


Son Of Mother Nature

by GayFandomShipper123



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Anxiety, Anxiety Attacks, Depressed Leo Valdez, Depression, F/F, F/M, Leo Valdez Needs a Hug, Leo has good friends but they don't know how to help him, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Panic Attacks, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Sad Leo Valdez, Self-Harm, Suicide Attempt, but it turned into a little ball of angst, but there will be fluff at some point I promise, lots of trigger warnings, not gonna tag all the campers, seriously be careful guys, set after boo, this was gonna be a fluff fest, too many of them
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-22
Updated: 2018-11-06
Packaged: 2019-06-14 11:32:51
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 5
Words: 32,490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15387867
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GayFandomShipper123/pseuds/GayFandomShipper123
Summary: Leo's finally back after he disappeared in the battle with Gaia, but he's in a really bad place. Can his friends help him before it's too late? How has Gaia returned already? What does she want? And who is the strange kid that's with her?Sorry guys, I'm sooooooooo bad at summaries! This was meant to be a really cute little fluffy story smattered with a cheeky lil bit of smut, but it turned into another angst-filled nightmare. I promise there will be fluff (and smut) at some point though! Seriously though, there's some pretty dark stuff in here (as there is in all my stories), and I want all of you beautiful people to stay safe, so I'll be including trigger warnings with every chapter.Please leave kudos and comments (it always makes my day to hear what you guys think of my stories)! Disclaimer: obviously I own nothing here except the original characters and the storyline, everything else belongs to Rick Riordan. Hope you enjoy!





	1. Chapter 1

**Leo's POV**

It started as any other morning at Camp Half-Blood would; sunny, peaceful and quiet, except for the gentle bubbling of the lava wall, as the residents of Camp Half-Blood awoke and started their day, going about their training and other activities. Leo sat at the Hephaestus table later that day, covered in black oil and soot smudges from working on that new catapult design that Clarisse had asked him for. He picked at the chicken salad he'd chosen for lunch unenthusiastically, thinking about how life had turned out after the prophecy had unfolded. He thought about his friends and everything they'd been through.

Jason and Piper had broken up after the war, their grief at his 'death' splitting their relationship apart (although they remained great friends), Annabeth and Percy had also broken up, both of them realising that they were more in love with other people than with each other. Annabeth and Piper started dating shortly thereafter.

Jason and Percy, however, had taken longer to get together. They were both afraid at being rejected, and that the competitiveness that had sparked in their friendship during the quest to stop Gaia would make a romantic relationship too hard. They were both also worried about other people thinking of them as ‘lesser men' because they had feelings for another guy (which was ridiculous), and that one of them would end up being 'the woman in the relationship’ (which was also ridiculous). Their friends had been quick to dispel those particular archaic beliefs and encouraged them to go for it. After all the horrid things they'd suffered through as demigods (and moreover as children of the Big Three), didn't the two deserve some happiness and normalcy in their lives? They were both in love with each other, and that's all that should matter.

Finally, after much tip-toeing and dancing around each other and denying their love for each other, Jason and Percy had set aside their fears and worries, and they let themselves be happy without worrying about what anyone else thought, and Leo reckoned that he hadn't seen either of the two so happy since his return as when they were together.

Nico had also found true love, in the form of Will Solace, from the Apollo cabin. Their relationship had formed right after the war had ended, after Will had treated Nico’s ‘shadow-travelling-fading-thing’ in the infirmary and ordered him to not use his underworld mojo powers until he gave permission, doctor's orders. It took Nico a while to get to grips with the fact that his homosexuality was nothing to be ashamed of and that it was deemed perfectly normal by the vast majority of the world (he _had_ grown up in the forties after all), but Will was patient with him and had shown him what love and happiness and unconditional acceptance felt like. Nico had softened somewhat, no longer putting up his facade of an abrasive personality and standoffishness, or his 'Ghost King aura’, as Leo liked to call it. He had become much more relaxed in his own skin, and let himself enjoy life as _he_ wanted to live it, not as others expected him to as the son of Hades. He was much more open with people and showed his feelings, and he loved Iris Messaging (or IM-ing) his sister Hazel, who lived at Camp Jupiter with Frank, but visited the rest of them often and kept in touch.

That just left Leo. Where? He didn't know. Calypso hadn't survived the journey back from Ogygia (just another cruel fucking thing the gods had done), and it had left the young son of Hephaestus feeling completely alone, surrounded by all the happy couples when he had no-one himself.

It had taken him four months or so to get back to Camp Half-Blood, even riding Festus, because he had to do repairs on the automaton dragon, and they had turned up in _Russia_ of all places.

When he had finally flown past the camp border of Thalia's pine tree, he'd touched down just behind the treeline, trying to draw as little attention to himself as possible because he was _not_ ready for questions yet, but a huge metal fire-breathing dragon tends to draw attention apparently. The moment his feet touched the ground, he was tackled by his friends, who were screaming and sobbing in shock and delight that he was alive.

After a lot of tearful reunions with his friends, his half-siblings in the Hephaestus cabin, and the other campers, Leo was _FINALLY_ removed from the chaos by his friends who hurried him off to Percy's cabin (it was the closest), and sat him down so he could tell them exactly what happened to him after the battle, after Nico had shadow-travelled to get Hazel and Frank from Camp Jupiter (with only a small argument with his doctor/boyfriend about using is Underworld powers, which Nico won).

Once Nico had returned with Hazel and Frank, Leo told them about taking the Physician's Cure, and returning to Ogygia for Calypso. Here, he had found himself choked up and unable to continue for a while. His friends had held him while he cried for his lost love and had all stayed together with him at Percy's cabin to comfort him through the night and to celebrate his return.

Following his return to the Camp, Leo threw himself into his work at Bunker 9, the Hephaestus cabin and at the camp forges, barely surfacing unless to eat, wash, or (rarely) sleep. He knew his friends had grown worried about his self-imposed exile of sorts, but none of them had said anything much about it, figuring that he needed time to heal by himself after Calypso's death.

Leo had now been back at Camp Half-Blood for near enough two months, and he was growing worried about himself and his own condition. He was more fidgety and anxious, often jumped at loud noises, and had developed a severe stutter when he got nervous or flustered.

He'd been to see Will at the infirmary about it (but had sworn him to secrecy), and Will had told him that he was displaying symptoms of depression, social anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Will booked Leo in for weekly therapy sessions with him, and gave him a prescription for antidepressants and anti-anxiety medication. Leo hadn't told his other friends about it, and had begged Will not to either, because he didn't want yet another reason to feel apart from the rest of them, the odd one out. So he carried on with his over-the-top, confident, boisterous personality, only letting it down when he was alone, but he didn't think his friends were buying it, not really.  
That brought him back to where he was now, sat (alone) at the Hephaestus table, trying to swallow food that he wasn't really interested in eating. He gave up eventually, sighing and scraping the rest of it (which was nearly all of it) into the flames as a sacrifice to his dad, before leaving the dining pavilion and thinking to himself that he might just hole himself up in his private room at his cabin and watch a movie (Leo and his cabinmates had _finally_ figured out how to make tech that didn’t attract monsters) or something to pass the time.

“Hey! Leo!” Leo grimaced to himself as a shout from behind made him turn around to see Jason and Percy running towards him holding hands, closely followed by Nico and Will. All of them were grinning and laughing happily.

“Hey guys.” Leo shouted back, plastering on a smile of Kardashian-level falseness.

“We’re getting teams together for capture the flag after dinner! So far it’s the Athena, Hermes, Ares and Hecate cabins on one side and the Zeus, Poseidon, Aphrodite, Apollo, Hades, and Demeter cabins on the other side. Please help us, they’ve got more campers than us in total, and the Hephaestus cabin is one of the largest at camp!” Percy gabbled excitedly as he reached Leo, practically jumping up and down with hyperactivity. Jason glanced fondly at his boyfriend and kissed the top of his head.

Oh... Games. They wanted to play a game. The old Leo would have jumped at the chance to side with them against the other team, and would probably have been feverishly working on several new gadgets and traps in excited anticipation of capture the flag. Currently, though, the thought of being around people made him feel queasy and claustrophobic. All those people crowded together in the forests with their weapons, shouting too loudly, hacking at each other, maybe even drawing blood... Oh gods, no. Nope. He couldn’t do it.

“U-uh, s-s-sorry g-guys. N-n-n-not today. Fee-feeling uh...” He clicked his fingers in front of him in frustration, trying desperately to think of the word he wanted to say, but it wouldn’t come.

“Tired? Sick?” Will saved him from the awkwardness that was threatening to suffocate him.

“Yeah, that’s the one. Ask Nyssa, sh-she might get the Hephaestus bunch to p-play with you guys. A-a-anyways, g-g-g-g-gotta g-get back to the B-bunker, haha, I have a – uh – a project. Gotta finish. Bye. Sorry. Gotta go.”

And Leo spun towards the direction of Bunker 9 and sprinted as fast as he could away from his friends and their shocked and concerned faces.

He didn't know why he still felt so terrible. It had been six months since he'd escaped Ogygia, since Calypso had died. He wasn't really grieving for her anymore, he'd come to terms with her death a long while ago.

Of course, there were still mornings when he woke up screaming and couldn't bring himself to get out of bed, or something jogged a memory from the war and he'd be a sobbing wreck and drop whatever he was holding because he couldn't control the shaking in his hands. These moments were nowhere near as frequent as when he'd first got back to camp, though. Will’s therapy sessions and the meds _were_ helping, but it just took that one little trigger for him to be back at square one and have to start all over again.

Leo sealed himself inside the bunker and tried to calm his breathing the way Will had taught him, to think of things that made him feel safe and calm (which, lately, wasn't very much). After ten minutes or so, Leo could feel the terror start to subside, to be replaced with that awful numb feeling, as though everything was grey and he was moving through treacle. Slow and dull, as though the life had been sapped from everything around him, including himself.

He worked for a few hours on some projects that he had in the works, weapons for the camp armoury, new monster traps to go in the forest, upgrades for Festus, but he couldn't bring himself to feel any enthusiasm for any of it. That restless, irritable feeling was coming back, making him unable to focus on anything at all.

He started sawing a bit of wood into two pieces to reinforce the structure of a chimaera trap he had designed, when his hand slipped and the saw passed over the inside of his forearm, ripping his shirt and drawing blood. Leo froze and stared dumbly at the deep cut now staining his white sleeve red. He sat down in the wheelie chair at his workbench and rolled the sleeve up to his elbow so he could look at the gash more closely.

It was a few inches up from his wrist, cutting horizontally from one side to the other of his right arm. It was quite deep but not worryingly so, and a little trickle of blood had started forming, snaking its way down to his wrist, the drops falling off the end of his little finger and onto the floor. He stared and stared at it with a sort of sick excitement and fascination.

He felt _pain_. He _felt_ something. And the blood. It was a vivid deep red and stood out in stark contrast to everything else, a trickle of shimmering scarlet in his world of grey. Without really registering what he was doing, he was pressing his thumb gently down into the incision, finding himself relishing in the sharp sting of pain that it gave him. He pressed down harder, and hissed at the pain. He felt a tear come to his eye and he laughed. Before he knew it, he was laughing hysterically and completely uncontrollably like a fucking maniac, still bleeding profusely. The numbness had gone, they greyness had gone. All replaced with the sweetest sensation of pain and blood red that Leo had ever felt.

His mind very briefly faltered. He never really thought of himself as this sort of person, that guy that would end up self-harming. He felt a small twinge of guilt in his stomach at the thought of his friends and what they would think and feel if they found out. Leo knew they'd blame themselves, for not noticing that anything was wrong and for not doing anything more to make sure that Leo was okay, and he didn't want to weigh them down with that guilt.

_'But,'_ said the little voice at the back of his head, _'you could always just make sure that they don’t find out. That way, you get release, and they don't feel the guilt. Come on, Leo, you need this. You know you need this.’_

His hand shaking slightly, he reached into his magic tool belt.

“Give me a Stanley knife.” He felt it appear in his hand, and brought it out, sliding the blade out a bit. He pressed it gently into the inside of his forearm, parallel to the original cut and drew it along his skin. A thin line of red blossomed behind it, tiny beads of blood popping up in the Stanley knife's wake. He retraced the cut, this time pushing much harder, so the cut deepened and started bleeding much more heavily, a few spots of blood dripping gently onto his work trousers.

He made a load more cuts, bringing the total up to an even twenty (ten on each arm), relishing in the pain and the heady rush of adrenaline he got from cutting himself, watching the blood drip-drip-drip off his arms and onto the floor with a weirdly content and satisfied feeling.

He didn’t slice at his flesh anymore, just peacefully watching the blood congeal on the surface of his skin. He rolled his sleeves back down and they stuck to the insides of his arms, the blood soaking through the light material, forming dark red patches. He quickly cleaned up the splotches of blood on the worktop and on the floor and cleaned off the Stanley knife, igniting the tissues afterwards so there wasn't any evidence left in Bunker 9. He then pocketed the knife, donned his army jacket so the sleeves of his top were completely covered, and strolled out of the bunker and back to the Hephaestus cabin as though nothing had happened, as though nothing had changed. But it had, Leo felt it. Something inside him had changed, and this new version of him that walked out of Bunker 9 had a sort of dark cloud over him, as though a storm was about to hit... Or maybe it just had.

*****

Leo showered when he got back to his room, not bothering to throw the shirt in his laundry bin, instead throwing it carelessly into the corner and not really seeing where it landed; it was completely ruined, he'd probably have to incinerate it later so none of the others found it and questioned him about the blood. The grounding and aching sting he felt on his arms as the water hit the open wounds and the blood turned the water pink made him feel good. The pain meant that he could feel. The fact that he could feel meant that he was alive.

He carefully cleaned and bandaged his arms and patted his hair dry a bit so it wasn’t dripping onto his chest. He looked in the mirror next to his dresser. His hair was longer than it had been before; it now reached down to just above his shoulders, he could tie it back into a man-bun and he often did so when he was working so it didn't get in his eyes. His eyes passed over the rest of his body. He was still very small and skinny, looking much more like a twelve year-old than a seventeen year-old, being only 5 foot 6 ½ inches tall, and with literally no hair on his body from the neck down; hairless legs, no hair under his arms, no pubic hair, or chest hair, or happy trail. Completely smooth, tan brown skin.

He quite liked his body overall, though. His abs, while not as ripped as Jason’s or Percy’s, were still present, and his tummy was flat and toned. He had quite long arms and big hands (but very skinny, nimble fingers), which came in useful when you were a mechanic, even if they did look slightly disproportionate to the rest of you. He had a damn good butt too, that much he knew. Two golden brown globes of taught, firm buttcheek. One of the best bubble-butts Leo had ever seen (if he did say so himself). He was hot as hell, and he knew it. He had a good sized cock and balls as well. Large, heavy, drooping balls swung between his legs, and his cock was circumcised and a modest 7 inches when it was hard, sticking straight outwards like a rod.

He sighed and pulled on a pair of pyjama pants and flopped onto his bed, getting comfortable sitting back against the headboard and turning the TV onto the DVD player, watching the Avengers movie until he drifted off to sleep.

*****

Leo jolted awake, the beeping monitor startling him into alertness. He looked over and saw Jason and Percy there on the camera screen, waiting for him to press the button to let them down into his room.

He groaned as he sat up and pressed the button.

“Hey guys. Come on down.”

It took Leo a couple of seconds for his brain to wake up properly. When it did, he registered that people were about to come into his room and see him shirtless with bandages on both his arms, which would inevitably lead to questions that Leo didn’t want to be asked.  
He could hear the other boys’ footsteps now, coming down the stairs.

“SHIT!” Leo cursed under his breath, and he threw himself at his dresser, grabbing the biggest sweater he could find and throwing it over his head just as Perc and Jason entered the room. He rolled the sleeves just up to his wrists so he had use of his hands, but so that his arms remained completely covered up.

“Dude, are you okay?” Jason frowned at him.

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?”

“Because you missed dinner. You feeling sick or something?” Percy held out a napkin with a couple of fish tacos in it, one of Leo’s favourites.

“Cheers, fish gills.”

“No problem, wrench monkey.” He winked at Leo, passing him the food. Leo dug in hungrily.

“What the hell is that?” Jason snapped suddenly, pointing at Leo's left arm. When Leo had reached out to take the tacos from Percy, his sleeve had pulled up slightly, revealing the edge of the bandage. Leo froze, but tried to play it off.

“Ooooooh, _that_. That's nothing. Just a bit of a scrape, supporting beam for one of the new chariots fell down and hit me. I'm fine, just a nasty scratch. Thanks for the tacos, by the way. I was starving.” Leo shook the sleeves of his jumper back down so just the fingers were poking out.

Jason and Percy blinked at him, blank expressions on their faces. Leo could tell that they didn't completely believe him, but he knew they didn't know what it actually was, how he'd _actually_ got injured. They probably just thought that the situation was more embarrassing than he was letting on, maybe like he fell while he was trying to do a Tarzan swing from the topmost shelf in Bunker 9 (which was about forty feet high) onto the deck of the rebuilt Argo II (which he'd only done once or twice before).

“Sooo...” Leo started, trying to search for a change of subject. “Did you manage to get Nyssa and the others to join your team for capture the flag? When does it start?”

“Mate, capture the flag ended about half an hour ago, you missed it. But yeah, we did manage to convince your cabin to join us.” Jason grinned.

“We absolutely steamrollered the other team. Will thinks that Nico should be okay to start shadow-travelling again as long as he doesn't overdo it, so he just waited until we distracted them enough, ran and grabbed the flag and shadow-travelled away with it! It was so cool! You should have seen Clarisse's face!” Percy was laughing happily. A comfortable silence fell, and since Leo felt more relaxed and much less anxious than he usually did, he decided that maybe spending some time with his friends would be fun.

“Hey, do you guys fancy staying for a movie? We can get the others and grab a load of junk food and sugary drinks and get completely high on sugar and caffeine. Maybe a superhero movie? Marvel, not DC, of course. Marvel over DC for movies, but DC over Marvel for TV shows. Strange, that, isn't it? OR maybe a Disney movie. Nico's like a Disney fanatic, which is weird, because before he was all like 'doom and gloom', but I guess that was him just not being himself. Just goes to show, doesn't it? Don’t judge a book by its cover and all that. I like Nico. Well, now I do. He scared the crap outta me before, but I like the _real_ Nico, he’s a cool dude... So, what do you guys think?” His two friends looked utterly stunned at him, as though they couldn't believe that anyone had ever said so much with just one breath which, Leo supposed, maybe no-one had.

“Uh... Yeah, sure. Sounds fun, Leo. You pick the movie and IM the others and we can go and get some food and drinks from Jason's cabin. Meet you back here in, shall we say, fifteen minutes?”

“Sounds good, amigos. See you in fifteen, then.”

*****

Leo had wasted no time once he was alone in using the IM-ing device to call his friends; a device of his own design and creation, it resembled a celestial bronze mobile phone that used UV light refracted through the quartz screen to create a rainbow for IM-ing people.

Leo had honestly felt so proud of himself for coming up with such an ingenious idea, and even more so when his fellow campers were lined up at the stall he’d set up so everyone could have one free of charge. His friends had thought that it would’ve been a good idea to sell them for money, but Leo said that he would rather give them away for free; they were things that would be so useful for all the campers on quests and stuff, and campers already had to use their drachmas to pay for the Iris Message anyway, why make them pay for the IM-ing device as well? It hadn’t felt right to Leo, so he’d made them in bulk and given them to all the campers that wanted one, which was near enough all of them.

After IM-ing all his friends and summoning them for the movie night (catching Nico and Will in the middle of doing something that he NEVER needed or wanted to see them doing again), he laid back on his bed and scratched at his bandages absentmindedly while he looked through his movie collection. He buzzed the others in as they arrived and before long, they were all sat down chatting merrily, munching on pizza and candy as, unbeknownst to Leo, the others all exchanged worried glances with each other behind his back, as their eyes kept darting from the back of his head, to the clothes that he’d forgotten to take off the floor, blood splattered all over the sleeves of the t-shirt, and to the Stanley knife that was sticking out of Leo's trouser pocket, dried blood smearing the edge.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Later in the evening and the morning after Leo's friends find out about his self-harm...
> 
> Percy remembers his own struggles, and Jason comforts him before doing something that will change their lives FOREVER.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, please leave comments and kudos, it always makes my day to hear what people think of my stories!
> 
> Trigger warnings for self-harm and panic attacks.
> 
> Stay safe, beautiful people.
> 
> T xxx

**??? POV**

_“Be reasonable, Hephaestus! You cannot interfere. We cannot meddle in our childrens’ lives so freely, that is what brought us to the conundrum we had with Gaia and the giants in the first pla—”_

_“The war with the giants started and consequently escalated becuase we were cowardly and tried to hide away from our duties. We put our own children in grave danger by not doing anything, not trusting them, and leaving them to fend for themselves entirely. We were irresponsible and selfish and wholly unworthy of the brave demigods we have parented. We deserve neither their forgiveness nor their admiration, yet you still tell me that I cannot help Leonidas even after all that we have put them through?! HE’S MY SON! And he is suffering greatly! How in the heavens can you expect me to just sit on Olympus while my son is a prisoner in his own mind! He is hurting both mentally and emotionally, and now physically too, so I am in pain also. I beg you, Zeus, allow me to help my boy. Please. Leo is a good child and he has been so brave. All the rest of you would wish to do the same for your own children.” Hephaestus paced agitatedly up and down the throne room, pleading with the other gods to let him descend from Olympus to help Leo._

_“You’re right, my friend. Every single one of us would be exactly where you are if it were one of our own, but conversely, I expect that you would be in our position if it were not your child. None of us are unsympathetic to your cause, believe me.” Poseidon approached and placed a comforting hand on Hephaestus' shoulder. “Do you not remember how desperate I was to help Percy when he and Sally were so horribly abused by that evil Gabe Ugliano mortal, and then again after he escaped Tartarus through the Doors of Death? That time in particular, he was in a similar situation to your boy Leo, doing the same sort of thing to himself as Leo is doing. It destroyed me inside to see my son so hopeless, but his friends helped him through it. His friends were there for him and they saved him from himself and his darkened mind. You need to trust that they will do the same for Leonidas, as I don't doubt they will. You're right, we didn't trust our children before, but we need to have faith in them now that they'll look after and protect one of their own. Have faith, Hephaestus. Let Leo's friends try and help him.”_

_Hephaestus sighed wearily and slumped into his throne._

_“Fine. I will be patient. But if his friends are unsuccessful, I will interfere myself. You agree?” Nods came from all the other Olympians and Hephaestus breathed deeply, before his mind drifted back to his son and what could be done to help him before it was too late._

*****

**Percy’s POV**

_**Group chat created: ‘S.O.S. Leo needs us’** _

_**Members:** Seaweed_Brain, Sparkplug  <3, GhostKing13, Sunny Solace, Cherokee Barbie, Wise Girl_123, VivaLaPluto-F_You, PraetorKoiFish_

_**Seaweed_Brain:** Hazel  & Frank, I know u guys are like super busy and stuff at Camp Jupiter and that ur meant 2 be visiting in a couple weeks anyway so you can spend December here, but we need you to come here like 2morrow. Leo's in trouble._

_**VivaLaPluto-F_You:** What? Why? What happened to Leo?_

_**Sparkplug <3:** He's in a bad place, Hazel. Like, really bad._

_**Cherokee Barbie:** We're really worried about him._

_**PraetorKoiFish:** We're packing our bags now. We'll get there as soon as we can, it might take us a couple of days though._

_**GhostKing13:** No need, you guys get a good night's sleep, I’ll pick you up tomorrow morning and bring you back by shadow-travel. You can stay in my cabin, there's plenty of room, and I've finished re-decorating._

_**VivaLaPluto-F_You:** Thank you, Nico. We'll see you guys tomorrow, then. You'll need to explain what's been happening though._

_**Sparkplug <3:** Zeus cabin. Ten o’clock tomorrow_ _morning. Sound good?_

_**VivaLaPluto-F_You:** Yes. See you then._

*****

Percy hadn't slept at all last night, too occupied with his worries about Leo to be able to get any real rest. He knew that Jason hadn’t slept either, they just laid in Percy's bed (the Poseidon cabin being their preferred place to be together), holding each other close until the sun rose in the sky.

“Morning, Jace.” Percy kissed Jason on the nose and watched his still closed eyes scrunch up, his blonde hair sticking up in odd directions, though Percy knew that his hair would be just as messy, if not worse. Jason twisted round so he could reach his glasses and put them on, jabbing himself in the eye with them as he did so. Percy chuckled softly and reached over to straighten the glasses on his boyfriend’s face. Jason scrunched his eyes closed again and smiled, sitting up with his back against the headboard.

“Morning, Aquaman.” Percy snorted at the pet name as he shuffled over so he could use Jason's muscled chest as a pillow. “Did you get any sleep at all, Percy?”

Percy shook his head and lifted it up so that it was resting on Jason’s shoulder.

“Of course not. I just kept thinking about Leo. About how we should’ve noticed that something was wrong. I mean, it's all my fault. I, especially, should've noticed that something was up. What with what happened to me and what I went through after Tartarus. I can't believe I didn't notice any sort of sign that he was struggling. I should've known...” Percy was crying softly now, little distressed sniffles coming from him as Jason rubbed his back soothingly.

Percy thought back to just after the war, before Leo had returned, just after the demigods had started settling back into life and adjusting to the aftereffects of the war, when he had been so aimless and _broken_.

He'd hated that he'd never been able to be a normal kid, that he'd also been constantly in the spotlight at Camp Half-Blood and then at Camp Jupiter too.

But what he’d hated most of all was that everything bad that had happened to him and more importantly the people he loved was _his fault_. His mum had been abused for years by Smelly Gabe to keep _him_ safe and hidden from the gods, so many of his friends at Camp Half-Blood had died in the Battle of New York with Kronos because _he_ hadn’t been powerful enough to defeat him, his friends had put themselves in terrible danger time and time again to help _him_ and come to _his_ aid.

It had gotten to be too much and he had started drinking when he was alone, enjoying the buzz he got that stopped him being able to feel like a complete burden on his loved ones, stopped him being able to focus on how lonely he felt and how confused he felt about his feelings towards Jason even while he was still dating Annabeth, about how worthless he thought himself.

It had been the camp's annual Christmas party almost one year ago (thrown, of course, by the Stoll brothers) that had finally started it. He'd overheard a conversation between Jason and Annabeth...

_“What do you mean you don't think you love him anymore?!”_

_“Don’t be ridiculous. I'll always love him, but I think romantically, I'm in love with someone else.”_

_“Who?”_

_“Oh, stop it, Jason. I know that you know I'm in love with Piper, just like I know you and Piper are secretly broken up, and just like I know you're head-over-heels in love with Percy and are terrified to tell him. And I also know that he feels the exact same way about you, even if he doesn't fully know or understand it yet. So I’m breaking up with him so that the four of us can all be with the person that we love, because we all deserve happiness and love. What I don't get, though, is why you're so scared to tell him. You know as well as I do that he loves you too.”_

_“It isn't that simple, Annie. He's not ready for that yet. He thinks we haven't noticed, but he's completely cut himself off from the rest of camp, he's depressed and he needs help, and that's more important right now than me and him getting together. I don't want him to think I'm pitying him or something like that, I want him to know for sure that I love him for ALL of him, even if there are some more painful bits he’d rather hide.”_

_“Good. I wouldn't even think about letting you make a move on him if I didn't think you cared about him and were going to be there for him. But I'm warning you, Jason Nicholas Grace, you hurt him and I'll kill you myself. I'll cut your balls off and shove them down your throat until you suffocate.”_

_“Trust me, I believe you. And the last thing I want to do is hurt him.”_

_“I know. Now, where is he? I should probably talk to him about all this.” Annabeth's eyes had scanned the room to look for him, but as soon as Percy had heard what he'd had to of their conversation, he'd turned and walked quickly from the party and back to his cabin without anyone noticing._

_The only thing that he could think about was that Annabeth had said that she was going to break up with him; she didn't love him anymore. He searched under his bed for a bottle, he definitely needed something alcoholic, something to numb his spiralling thoughts. The first few times his hand came into contact with some of the empty bottles he had hidden under there, but finally his hand latched onto a bottle that felt heavier than most of the others. He brought it out from under the need and looked at it; a half-empty bottle of white rum. That would do. He had unscrewed the top and drank until his throat burned and his eyes watered._

_He screamed in frustration when the bottle was empty, and threw it as hard as he could at his cabin door, where it smashed into pieces. He had stumbled over to the pieces and used his shirt (which he'd removed so he could cool down a bit) to clean up all the shards and push them into the corner; he could clean them up properly tomorrow when he was sober. He had then staggered into the bathroom and looked at his haggard reflection, taking in his messy hair, his bloodshot eyes. He couldn't stop the anger and self-resentment bubbling up and he had punched the mirror hard causing it to shatter and rain down into the sink and onto the floor. Percy remembered looking down at his shaking hands, fingernails bitten down to the quicks from nerves, the knuckles on his left hand bleeding from where the pieces of the mirror had cut into them._

_The rum had kind of done its job, the emotional torture was lessened, but he was still confused. Jason apparently loved him but he didn't want to ask him out? Didn't he want to be with Percy? To be honest, Percy had suspected for a while now that Annabeth was tired of going out with him and who could blame her?_

_What hurt more was that it sounded like her and Piper were getting pretty serious already, which meant that they had probably started their relationship a while ago, so when it came down to it, Annabeth had cheated on him. She hadn’t broken up with him first so she could go be happy and also save Percy his dignity, she had been sneaking around with one of their mutual friends behind his back. The worst thing, though, was that Percy knew, deep down, that he deserved this. He was a fucking useless excuse for a demigod. Looks like Jason had figured it out as well._

_His mind kept drifting back to what Jason had said - 'he's completely cut himself off...'_

_Cut himself off._

_Cut himself._

_Cut._

_Cut. Cut. Cut._

_He had a moment's hesitaton, but he shook it off and reached for the ballpoint pen, clicking it open so it turned into his sword, Riptide. Anaklusmos._

_He hated feeling this way, so crushed and falling into the bottomless pit of despair. It was like drowning, and trying to swim to the surface when you don’t know how and you can’t draw breath, and everything just gets darker and colder and quieter and lonelier. The more you struggle and fight it, the more desperate you were to breathe, the further and faster you fall, until you just give up, and let yourself sink to the bottom. Percy was foolish enough to think that he couldn’t drown, he was the son of Poseidon, but he hadn’t considered the possibility of drowning mentally and emotionally, as opposed to physically._

_Deep red lines of blood appeared on his thighs, arms, and chest as the thoughts in his head got louder and louder, and when he was done, he just laid back, bleeding on his bed, and he cried. He cried because, no matter how hard he tried, he could not think of a reason that he deserved love from someone like Jason. But he wanted it so desperately, and he was completely, utterly, and painfully in love with Jason Grace._

“PERCY! Come on baby, you need to talk to me! What's going on?” Percy was wrenched out of the clutches of his memories by Jason, who was calling his name loudly as he cradled Percy's face in his hands so that Percy was looking right into his boyfriend's electric blue eyes, which were crinkled with concern and fear.

Seeing that Percy seemed to be more with it now, Jason let go of Percy's face and sat back in front of him.

“What happened, Percy? Where did your mind go? You were having a panic attack.”

“I was – I was remembering when things were really bad. Before you and the others saved me from myself. To be honest, it still feels very surreal that I have this amazing boyfriend and such good friends and I – sometimes I still think that maybe I don’t deserve all these amazing people in my life. I just hope that we can get to Leo and help him before he gets to that place.”

“You listen to me, Perseus Jackson. You. Deserve. Love. I love you, okay? So much. Like, more than anything else in this world. Whether or not you believe that. And I am not going to realise that I’m too good for you or some bullshit like that and leave you. I will be here every single day to make sure you know that, gods be damned. In fact,” Jason said, jumping off the bed and running to the door of Percy’s cabin wearing only the Superman pyjama bottoms that he had been wearing in bed, throwing it wide and flying into the middle of the open ground in the middle of all the cabins and proclaiming loudly to the camp at large, grinning at the staring campers.

“I”M IN LOVE WITH PERCY JACKSON!!! I LOVE HIM, I LOVE HIM, I LOVE HIM!!!!!”

Percy was standing in the doorway of his cabin by now, wearing his boxers and Jason’s baggy pullover, staring in utter shock and disbelief at his boyfriend. But Jason wasn't done yet it seemed.

“I want everyone to hear this!” Jason yelled to all the watching campers, which was about half of the camp by now, including Piper, Annabeth, Nico, Will, Leo, Grover, and Clarisse. “I need witnesses!” Jason continued.

“This boy, Percy Jackson,” Jason pointed at Percy, who blushed at the attention, “is my boyfriend. I love him lots and lots and lots—”

“We _know_ that, Grace! What’s your point? And for the love of the gods, put a shirt on!” Clarisse’s sarcastic shout came from in the crowd. Jason rolled his eyes as he grinned and turned back round to face Percy, although still speaking loudly so that the crowd could hear him clearly.

“The _point_ is that, Perseus Jackson, I love you. You are the love of my fucking life, even if you don't always believe that you deserve it. And with all these people and the gods as my witnesses, you are the love of my life and I won't ever stop loving you, **I SWEAR IT ON THE RIVER STYX**.”

Nobody made a sound, you could've heard a feather land on the grass from miles away. Percy stood there, completely shell-shocked he utterly unable to comprehend the magnitude of what Jason had just done. His hands were over his mouth, and he could feel them trembling. Didn't Jason understand what he’d just done?! He had just signed his life away, he'd basically just given himself a fate worse than death!

“Jason...” Percy whispered, still too shocked to say anything else. “D-do you even understand what y-y-you just did?”

“Yep.” Said Jason cheerily, but he frowned at the look on Percy's face and walked over to him, still of caring that they had a very shocked and silent audience hanging onto their every word.

“Why, are you not happy?” Jason frowned, the stapler scar on his lip twitching slightly.

“Jason, you don't understand,” Percy's voice trembled with emotion as he took hold of Jason's hand in his, and looked at him through eyes filled with tears. “You can't promise something like that. You just as good as condemned yourself to the worst possible fate. Not even a god can break a vow made on the River Styx.”

“I know that, Perce.”

“Then what in Hades were you thinking?!” Percy shouted. “I can't lose you, Jace! And now you're going to die, and I'm going to be alone again. All because you made the riskiest promise ever! How do you think I'm going to feel when _I'm_ the cause of the love of _my_ life's death?! It'll kill me, Jason.”

“No, it won't. Because I'm not going to die on you, baby. Because I was dead serious when I said it. One hundred percent truth, every word I said. So the vow wasn't broken, and it won't ever be broken. In fact, wait here. I'll be right back, okay? I promise.” And Jason flew into the air and in the direction of the Zeus cabin without another word.

Percy stood there staring after him, still shaking. After a second, Percy's friends approached slowly, wrapping him in a group hug and comforting him with soft assurances that they were sure everything was going to be alright. The campers were still watching Percy even as Jason flew back and landed in front of Percy and their friends, although some of them were muttering amongst themselves, throwing glances their way every now and then.

Jason was fiddling with something in his hands, fidgeting nervously as he spoke.

“So... I guess I kinda sprung that whole thing on you and freaked you out a bit and I'm sorry about that, although I really don't regret saying it at all. I really don't know why I'm going to do this now because it almost definitely will just make you freak out even more, but I guess I just needed you to know and to reassure you how truthful I was being just now, because you really are the only one for me, Percy. And I love you with all my heart. I meant to do this in a month on Christmas Day, but I want to do this now, because... I don’t know, really... Just because. So...”

Shocked gasps and loud muttering sprung up from the crowd as Jason revealed the thing in his hands to be a ring box and knelt down on one knee.

He opened the ring box and Percy clapped his hand over his mouth. It was beautiful. A simple titanium ring with a small pearl in the centre, with a glittering diamond on either side. Beautiful and elegant, but somehow still manly.

“Perseus Jackson, I love you with all my heart and soul. Will you marry me?”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So our favourite gang of demigods knows about Leo's situation but how will they help him? In other news, Jason has proposed to Percy in the most dramatic way EVER, so let's see what the fallout of that is.
> 
> Trigger warnings for self-harm, panic attacks, alcoholism, and depression. Stay safe, guys.
> 
> T xxx

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, I want to apologise for not having updated this story literally in ages. Unfortunately I suffered a major relapse with my mental health and it's only recently that I've been able to face writing again. I'm doing better now, and I've got an amazing support system in my life. I'm just sorry if I have let anyone down who has been waiting for another chapter. I hope that you can forgive me and continue to enjoy my stories.
> 
> T xxx

**Leo's POV**

It was about an hour or so after Jason and what Leo will forever call the ‘true love lovey-dovey word-vomit marriage proposal’ fiasco, and Jason, Leo, Piper, Annabeth, Nico, and Will were huddled together in the infirmary talking in hushed voices.

“Do you think it was a ‘yes’?” Jason asked for the umpteenth time.

“I don’t know,” Annabeth remarked drily, “We’ll have to find out when he once again becomes conscious.”

The overload of emotions had proved to be too much for Percy’s ‘early morning brain’ to handle, and after Jason had bent his knee and popped the inevitable question, Percy had promptly keeled forwards in a dead faint. He was currently lying in a bed in the infirmary with quite a bit of bruising and a few small cuts but nothing to worry about (upon fainting forwards, nobody had moved quick enough to be able to stop unconscious Percy from face-planting and sliding heavily ON HIS FACE all the way down the steps outside his cabin).

Leo felt super bad for Percy and Jason. He felt bad for Jason because he knew that Jason always got himself really worked-up when Percy’s mood dipped and his depression peaked. Leo knew that he’d been planning the most picture-perfect proposal for Christmas Day (because he’d asked Leo to help plan it), but that in that moment, Jason had just wanted to show Percy how much he meant to him, and that was the only way that came to his mind. And of course, he now felt even worse because his kinda-boyfriend-kinda-fiancé was lying unconscious in an infirmary bed, because of something he did, though Leo had been perfectly emphatically when he'd told Jason that he might be the cause, but it _wasn't_ his fault.

And he felt bad for Percy. Like, a lot. The guy suffered on a daily basis. Some days he was fine, waking up in a happy mood and able to enjoy his day like anybody else; but other days all he could do was sit in the corner of his cabin and rock back and forth until the demons in his head left him alone. And it made Leo feel bad that he couldn't help his friend like he wanted to. And now, Percy was going to be so fucking upset with himself because he would think that he'd ruined a beautiful moment for him and Jason, and that everything was his fault.

Leo shook his head to himself as Will dabbed an antiseptic cream onto the grazes on Percy's face.

“Hey Leo, do you want me to take a look at you now? I'm pretty much done with Percy now.” Will said in a chirpy voice. Leo couldn't decide whether or not he imagined it, but for a moment he could've sworn he saw all the others shooting glances at Will. Leo decided that he didn't care whether they were or not, because he'd temporarily forgotten how to breathe, and when he finally remembered the mechanics of the human body and how it needed oxygen to work properly, his breath came out in short and sharp gasps.

“W-w-what are y-y-y-you talking ab-bout, Solace?” He stammered, unable to keep his voice steady, his mind already racing five miles ahead of him.

“Jason told me a supporting beam fell on you yesterday in Bunker 9. Said you’d had to bandage your arms all up. You want me to take a look at it and make sure it's all good?” Will's voice was light and airy, but there was definitely no mistaking it this time; Will wouldn't meet Leo's eyes, but was sharing furtive and fleeting glances with everyone else present. Leo racked his brain for a way out, he needed to get away.

“N-no thanks, Will. App-p-preciate it, but I think I got it covered; you should save this stuff for p-p-people that actually need it. Like, y'know, injuries from training in the arena, or from face-planting down the steps of your cabin when you faint after an ambush proposal...” Leo's voice tailed off as he backed away, though he instantly felt guilty for the hurt and indignant look that flashed across Jason's face.

“Sorry. Anyway, should probably get going, lotta lots o' stuff to be getting on with. Adiós. And Jason, congrats on the sort-of proposal. Seriously dude, happy for my two chums. Anyway, bye.” With that, he sprinted away as fast as his skinny little legs would carry him, burying his head in projects at the Camp forges and not emerging for meals or anything else for the rest of the day.

*****

**Will’s POV**

Percy had woken up soon after Leo left, and of course he'd said 'yes' to the to the most dramatically failed proposal ever, because nobody except Jason had doubted he would. Percy seemed as troubled as everyone else when he heard about how Leo had fled as if the literal hounds of hell were chasing after him.

Understandably so, Percy and Jason were slightly distracted as Nico left to pick up Frank and Hazel from Camp Jupiter, neither of them could seem to snap their attention away from the ring that now adorned Percy's finger for more than two minutes.

A little while later though, they were standing in the Zeus cabin as arranged, and Nico walked through the door with Frank and Hazel in tow.

“Right.” Said Hazel sharply as she unwrapped her scarf and tossed it aside in an uncharacteristically savage way. “What in Jupiter's name is going on with Leo? I want answers NOW, so somebody better start talking.”

Jason stepped forward, hand-in-hand with Percy.

“We think Leo's going down a similar path to the one I did, Hazel.” Percy said wetly.

“You mean—”

“Self-harm, trauma, depression, anxiety, maybe all of the above. We're not sure. We just saw his arms covered in bandages, his shirt with blood all over the sleeves thrown in the corner, and one of those retractable knives that mechanics use with blood caked on it.”

“Oh gods.” Hazel said faintly, clapping a hand over her mouth as tears sprang into her eyes. Frank wrapped a comforting arm around her.

“How long has this been going on for?” He said grimly.

“The self-harm has only started very recently, we believe that yesterday was the first incident, but he's been suffering from depression and post-traumatic stress disorder for a little over a year, ever since he got back. And he's had social anxiety probably for longer than that, maybe since he was little. He's also developed a severe stutter when he gets overwhelmed or upset.” Will said, stepping forward and addressing the group. All heads turned to face him.

“Leo? _Social anxiety?_ Leo Valdez? There's no way.” Said Piper, shaking her head in a bemused way. Will looked at her, unimpressed.

“Excuse me?” He said, arching an eyebrow.

“I mean there's no way that Leo Valdez has social anxiety. He's like the most extroverted of all of us. He'll crack jokes with anyone.”

“He uses jokes as a way to cover up how uncomfortable he feels in a situation. Like, he'll make a joke, but it's only to take the focus off of him. Like, in a group environment, if he was here right now, and he was the one speaking in front of everyone, that'd be like his worst nightmare. So he makes a stupid joke so everyone will just roll their eyes and stop listening to him.” Will tried to explain, but it seems that Piper still wasn't convinced.

“Nah, I mean, it just doesn't seem like Leo. Like, the trauma, sure, that's easy enough to believe with everything demigods to through, and everything that happened with Calypso, and the depression, sure I guess, but maybe he just needs cheering up.”

Will had to bite his tongue at that. Didn't she understand that this wasn't something that could be fixed overnight? Sometimes you can never really fix it, you just have to learn how to cope with it in your daily life. But Piper wasn't done yet.

“But I'm sorry,” she continued, “But it just doesn't seem plausible at all to me that anyone can be that uncomfortable in a situation and not say something. Nobody's that good at acting.”

“I was.” Percy said in a dark voice. He glared at Piper. “And I reckon Will's right. We just haven't noticed anything was wrong. Which is our fault. All of us. He is our friend. We need to help him.” Percy was twisting his hands together, something he always did when he was distressed. Jason took a gentle hold of his hands and rubbed them soothingly with the pads of his thumbs until they stilled. Jason looked up at Will from across the group.

“How did you figure all this out Will? We know about the self-harm, but we can only speculate what's causing it.”

Will shook his head sadly.

“He's been coming to me for a while now for weekly therapy sessions. I also supplied him with a repeat prescription for antidepressants and anti-anxiety meds.”

“And you didn't feel the need to tell any of us that he was suffering?” Piper said savagely. “He’s our friend too, Solace.”

“Patient confidentiality.” Will said simply. “I’m not allowed to tell anyone about other people's appointments and problems unless they have direct consent from the patient themselves. I will only ever break that confidentiality if I believe that my patient is in danger of harming themselves or other people.”

“Well, a fucking fine job you've made of this, _Doctor_ Solace!” Piper said venomously, advancing on him. “Your job was to help, and it seems to me that you've done a crap-ass job of it if he's got this bad!”

“Back off, Barbie.” Said Nico, staring her down. She and Annabeth put their hands on the handles of their weapons threateningly.

“Try it, Wise Girl, and see where it gets you.” Warned Nico, stepping protectively in front of Will with a growl.

“You wanna go, Death boy?” Annabeth said. “I’m not afraid of you.” She drew her weapon.

“Then you're the dumbest child of Athena I've ever met, and I pity you. Now, you're going to put your fucking sword back where it was, before you do something that I'll make sure you regret.” Nico spat back at her.

“Guys, please... STOP fighting.” Percy whimpered in a weak voice, putting his hands over his ears and backing away. But neither Annabeth, Nico, or Piper had seemed to hear him. If anything, the volume of their argument increased exponentially.

The three of them were now screaming back and forth, all three of them had their weapons drawn and looked ready to attack. Will was trying to calm Nico down and get him to walk away but he might as well have not bothered.

“RRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAARRRRRRR!!!!!” The argument was interrupted by a humongous roar from a great, hulking grizzly bear that was currently standing on its back legs and looking _very cross_. The grizzly bear shrank down and Frank returned to human form, marching over to the three bickering demigods and standing resolutely between them. Hazel clicked her fingers and the weapons zoomed out of their owners' hands, landing at Hazel’s feet.

“THAT. IS. ENOUGH!” Frank roared. “This is NOT about the three of you, so get a fucking control over yourselves! This is about Leo. Our _friend_ who needs us. Who cares if he's been going to Will for help? Will started helping a problem before it escalated. That's what he does. If Leo felt comfortable enough to talk to him about it, what does it matter how the rest of us feel about it? Will happened to be in a position from which he was able to help him, that is NOT his fault. All that matters is that Leo is getting the help he needs. So I, for one, am grateful to him.” 

Everyone stared at Frank in shock; he was normally such a soft-spoken and sweet-tempered guy. Will felt a rush of affection for the son of Mars.

“We can't afford to fight amongst ourselves,” Frank continued, “because that is wasted time that we need to be spending on helping Leo.”

Jason walked over, his arms protectively around Percy, who still looked pretty shaken up from all the shouting; his arms were still clamped over his ears in any case. Jason gently pulled Percy’s hands away.

“Shh, it's okay now, Perce. No more shouting. See?” Jason soothed gently.

Nico, Annabeth, and Piper all shot guilty looks at Percy as he lowered his hands, which were still shaking slightly. Hazel stepped forward and took charge of the conversation.

“So.” She said, pushing her hair out of her face. “What are we going to do? How are we going to fix this?”

“I think the best thing to do is to let Leo know that we're there for him, that _all_ of us want to help him through this.” Jason suggested.

“What did you have in mind, Jason?” Annabeth asked.

“Well, I think the easiest way for us to appear as a supportive singular unit is for us to have some sort of intervention for Leo, and we can all read statements and stuff and let him know that we're here for him.” Jason shrugged. Percy shook his head at once.

“Nuh-uh, bad idea, Jason. You want to ambush a socially anxious person with an intervention where they are the focus of everyone's attention? That's going to be the worst possible thing for him, babe. It was a nice thought, showing him that we all want to help him, but there are other ways we can do that that are going to be much better suited to this situation.”

“I agree with Percy. You guys saw how fast he high-tailed it out of the infirmary when I broached the subject.” Will said, nodding in agreement.

“Well, what would you suggest?” Piper said, looking at Percy. “I don't think we can afford to be too subtle at this point. We need to get through to Leo before his mental well-being plummets even further.”

“Yeah, I'm with Piper.” Jason said, turning to face Percy. “I really think that the intervention is the best bet we have.”

There were grudging nods and mumbled agreements from most of the others, though Will and Percy still remained unconvinced. As everyone else walked out of the Zeus cabin (probably to start working on their intervention statements), Percy and Will bent their heads together in an urgent whisper.

“Will, this is a seriously bad idea.”

“I know. This is not going to end well.”

*****

A week after their meeting in the Zeus cabin, and hardly anyone had seen Leo out and about at Camp Half-Blood. He spent every waking moment in the camp forges or sealed in Bunker 9. The others decided that it was time for them to spring the intervention on Leo the next time they could get him out of one of his hiding places.

Will and Percy had begged and pleaded with the others to not go ahead with the intervention; it was a had idea to corner Leo like that, it would only make the situation worse. But the others were convinced that it was the best solution, and with the lack of any other ideas, the intervention was to go ahead as planned. Will and Percy couldn't help but feel a sense of great foreboding and dread.

After dinnertime on Saturday evening, during which Leo made a rare appearance at the Hephaestus table for some food, the other members of the group scurried back to the Zeus cabin while Jason hung back to bring Leo to the Zeus cabin for his intervention, under the guise of asking Leo if he simply wanted to hang out and play some videogames.

When they opened the doors to the Zeus cabin, Will could see the look of shock and confusion on Leo's face when he saw that everyone was there. Will inwardly cringed at the look on his face; this was so not going to go well.

“W-what's going on, g-g-guys?” Leo asked timidly, already shrinking in on himself slightly. Jason guided him over to sit down in the chair in front of everyone, before joining the group.

“Leo, this is an intervention.” Jason said solemnly.

Will could see a shadow pass over Leo's face. He'd already shut himself off.

“An intervention?” He laughed nervously. “W-what for?”

“Leo, we all love you and we want to help you through this.” Piper stepped forward, reading off of a little cue-card. “We are your friends, and if you are struggling, we want to be there for you.”

“We can see that you are going through a bad place, Leo.” Jason took over, looking up every now and then from his piece of paper to look at Leo, who started squirming uncomfortably in his chair. “And we've noticed that you've become more withdrawn and isolated.”

“Oh come on, guys!” Leo said, with an attempt at a winning smile. “I’ve just got a lot of projects and things that I'm focussing on at the moment! Like that new chariot for the Ares cabin; do you want to go over and tell Clarisse that she isn't going to get her new chariot on time? Because I don't. Speaking of, I should probably go...” He tried to scramble out of the chair towards the exit of the cabin, but Hazel grabbed his hand gently and sat him back down. She then crouched down in front of him.

“Leo, honey. Do you want to maybe roll your sleeves up for us?” She said softly. Leo stiffened at her question and is eyes darted frantically around the room.

“Haha, uh w-why would I n-n-need to do that?” He said uncomfortably. “They’re all dirty from oil and grease and soot and stuff.”  
Will noticed that small wisps of smoke were coming out of Leo's hair and ears.

“Uh, guys? Maybe we shouldn’t—”

“Just roll your sleeves up, Leo. We all know what we're going to see.” Said Annabeth pushily.

Leo stood up quickly. The chair crumbled into charcoal underneath him.

“I need to go. I need to get out of he—”

He scrambled towards the door.

“Leo, wait!” Jason started forwards. Leo held his hands out in front of him, as though to keep Jason away.

“Get away from me, all of you! I said GET AWAY!” He suddenly burst into flames and a huge fireball shot itself at the group.

Percy darted forwards and used the water vapour in the air to make a swirling shield of water in front of them which doused the fireball. The group looked at Leo who was standing there immobilised with his hands over his mouth.

“I’m so sorry. Please... Forgive me.” He said, as tears poured down his face. His shirt was hanging from his frame in smouldering tatters, and everyone could clearly see the slash marks on Leo's arms. Some looked more recent than others.

Leo fled from the Zeus cabin, still sobbing, and Percy made to chase after him.

“Leo, wait! Come back!” He stopped at the door and then rounded on the rest of them. “I told you this was a bad idea!” He shouted. “Will and I tried to tell you that this wouldn't work, but none of you would fucking listen! Now we're even further back than square one!”

“Percy, calm down.” Jason said, huffing indignantly. “No-one could've known that this would go so wrong.”

“Yes we did! I could have told you that! And I did, Jace! So did Will! Now we need to go and find Leo before he does something awful!”

“Percy! Stop being an _idiot_ and calm down! We need to think about this!” Jason yelled back. Percy's voice died in his throat and he blinked back tears.

“Well...” He said in a shaky voice. “There goes 'stupid idiotic Percy Jackson at it again', overreacting like always. And poor, sweet Jason Grace having to put up with him, for the rest of his life now, because they're engaged!” He laughed sardonically. “Oh! You dodged a bullet there, Grace! You didn't actually marry me yet! But then again, why would you want to? Perfect, amazing Jason Grace could never want to marry stupid, brainless Percy Jackson.”

Percy stormed from the room, leaving a shocked and heavy silence in his wake.

*****

**Leo's POV**

Leo couldn't go back to the Hephaestus cabin, or to Bunker 9. Those would be the first places that his friends would look for him, and he couldn’t bear to see their faces at the moment, after he'd lost control like that. He eventually settled on hiding up a tree by the lake, watching the waves gently caress the sand on the shore.

He kept thinking back to how he'd almost hurt his friends. How could he do that? What was wrong with him?

His thoughts were interrupted as another figure came stumbling onto the beach, sobbing gently as they sat straight down in the shallows. It was Percy. Leo climbed down from his place in the tree, dusting himself off and walking over. Percy looked around as he approached.

“Leo.” He said, wiping his eyes hurriedly and putting on a watery smile. “Are you okay? I told them that the intervention was a bad idea. Will too.”

“I've been better.” Said Leo shakily, sitting down next to him and looking out over the water. “What about you? Why are you crying?”

Percy sighed deeply and put his head on his knees.

“Had a fight with Jason, right after you left, actually.” Percy said croakily. “I don't think he'll want to marry me anymore.” Percy's voice was steady enough, but Leo could see the anguish and utter despair in his eyes; Percy was barely holding it together. A tear slipped out of the corner of his eye.

“I'm sure that the fight wasn't that bad. At least, I'm sure it's nothing that Jason will want to call off the engagement for.”

Percy hummed sadly, but didn't say anything. Leo cast around for a change of subject.

“What did Will tell you guys?” Leo tried not to feel annoyed at the blonde, he'd said he wouldn't tell anyone.

“He told us everything, Leo. But you should know, he only told us when he thought you were in danger of hurting yourself again. He kept his promise.” Percy reassured him.

“Okay.” Leo said. The conversation tailed off briefly as they both looked over the lake, watching the gentle motion of the waves.

“You know, even though the intervention was a really bad idea, they meant well. The point they were trying to make was that they - we're all here for you if and when you want to talk about it.”

Leo hugged his knees to his chest.

“I get that, and I appreciate that, I guess. But I don't want to drag you guys down in my shit.”

“Some of us might know more than you think about this sort of thing.” Percy said curtly, turning to face Leo.

“I doubt it. You guys are all strong and mighty and in happy relationships with people that love you.”

“Some of us are keeping up appearances, Leo. Do you really think you're the only one here that's suffering after the war?” Something about Percy's tone, the tension in his shoulders struck Leo with an odd idea.

“Wait, are you talking about _yourself_?”

“Yes.” Percy said wearily.

“You?! But – but you of all people, you're so strong and cool an—”

“It doesn't always feel so nice being the centre of attention. You know that as well as I do. When I first got to Camp, I was in the spotlight because I was a child of one of The Big Three. Then I was in the spotlight because there was a prophecy about me and Kronos. After that, I was kidnapped by Hera and arrived at Camp Jupiter, where I also ended up being the centre of attention, because I was Son of Neptune, _graecus_ and all that. Then there was the Big Prophecy, and all of that happened, and I just never got the chance to be a normal kid and enjoy my life, y'know? I've always been in danger from something or other, always having to look over my shoulder. At some point, you start wondering if that's really any sort of life worth living, or if it would just be simply for it to all stop.”

Percy pulled the hoodie and camp t-shirt over his head and Leo felt a sick feeling settling in his stomach. Nearly all of Percy's torso was covered in scars, varying in deepness, width, length, and colour. Some looked months and months old and were fading white, leaving just faint impressions of the wounds that had come before, but some were thick and much darker red and purple, scarred over but still standing out vividly from Percy's skin. One of the scars in particular drew Leo's focus; it was on Percy's chest, right over his heart in the shape of an 'x'. Percy noticed where Leo's gaze had drifted and looked up at him sadly.

“Cross my heart... and hope to die.” Percy said in a small voice with a heavy-hearted smile.

Leo didn't think, he just leaned forward and wrapped his arms around Percy, not fully registering the fact that Percy was shirtless, and that he, Leo, was wearing the burned remnants of his own shirt. Suddenly remembering why it had lit on fire, Leo mumbled into Percy's shoulder.

“I'm sorry I nearly hurt you guys earlier. I didn't mean to lose control like that.”

“Hey, it's okay. We all lose control sometimes. And nobody got hurt so no harm done. To be honest, it was a perfectly reasonable reaction, Leo. We totally ambushed you. You were scared and needed to get away.”

“I’m always scared. It's just a constant feeling in here.” Leo gritted out, pointing at his chest as he tried to hold back his tears.

“I know. Believe me, I know. It feels like you can't even breathe. It aches so badly that you just want to carve it out; it feels like you're going to die.” Percy said.

Leo couldn't stop himself, he just broke down. Percy hugged him and rubbed soothing circles into his back as Leo sobbed and sobbed into Percy's shoulder, who just let him cry on his shoulder. Percy didn't tell him to stop crying and not to worry, that everything would be alright. He didn't tell Leo that other people were much worse off than him, and that he had nothing to feel so sad about, to pull himself together. He didn't hit Leo with those bulllshit stereotypical 'comforting' words that everybody always said. Because he knew that that wasn't what Leo needed to hear, and Leo was so grateful. So fucking grateful. Eventually, after a long while, he managed to calm himself into gentle sniffles.

“Do you ever miss it?” Leo asked, taking his head off Percy's shoulder and letting his fingers dance in the shallow water that they were sitting in. Leo's trousers were soaked through, but he couldn't bring himself to care.

“Miss what?” Percy asked lightly.

“The release. Like, the cutting.”

“Yes.” Came Percy's immediate answer. “Sometimes I miss it a lot, watching the blood. The feeling of release it gave me. I miss drinking as well. But I know that it wouldn't be a good idea for me to do either of those things again. But sometimes the temptation... it's really difficult sometimes. Like today, just thinking about Jason and how he'll probably want this ring back now, I just want to hide myself away for a bit and drink my way through a bottle of something, numb the emotions. And cutting, it's easier to deal with the physical pain, makes it easier to ignore the emotional pain.”

“Tell me about it.” Leo agreed, thinking. “Percy?”

“Yeah?”

“Drinking; d-did it h-h-help?”

“It felt like it did.. But, like cutting yourself, there are much more constructive ways of dealing with things.”

“And what if I don't care if it's not constructive?” Leo asked defiantly. “What if I don't feel like doing what other people would want right now? What if I want to be completely selfish and drink to forget my problems and wake up with loads of bleeding cuts on my body. What would you say to me then?”

Percy seemed to think deeply before he spoke.

“I’d tell you that it would probably help you feel better for a bit, but you'd probably regre—”

“But it would probably work? Even for a little bit?”

“Yes. And all the gods know that I don't have a leg to stand on. I have no right to tell you how to deal with this when I half-want to do the same thing. That would make me a hypocrite.”

“Well I want to get shit-faced. Care to join me?” Leo stood up and held out a hand to help Percy up.

“You know what?” Percy said, letting Leo pull him to his feet. “I think I will.”

“What are friends for if not to join their friends in deliberate self-destruction?” Leo grinned.

Percy touched Leo lightly on the shoulder and Leo could feel all the water that was soaking his clothes being studied out of them, leaving him perfectly dry, but slightly cold in the November evening air. Percy handed Leo his hoodie before putting his t-shirt on. Leo took it gratefully as he ripped the burned shreds of his shirt from his body.

“Now where are we going to find booze in a camp full of minors?” Leo asked as they walked back to camp. Percy smirked at him.

“Leave that to me. You just get a hold of a bottle opener and some good blades. I'll handle the booze, and maybe some cigarettes if you want?”

“Yeah sure.” Leo shrugged. “I'll meet you back at my cabin and we can chill in my private room and watch movies with snacks and stuff.”

“Sounds good to me.”

*****

They met up back at the Hephaestus cabin a quarter of an hour later. Leo had found two very sharp knives in the spare weapons storeroom, and had cleaned and sterilised them thoroughly, before putting them in a backpack and sneaking into the kitchens to steal a bottle opener and some snacks for the night.

When Percy showed him what he’d brought, Leo had to blink twice to believe what he was seeing. In Percy's backpack were three unopened bottles of rum, four packs of cigarettes, and an ashtray.

“Where in Hades did you find all of this?” Leo said, surprised.

“It's better if you don't know. Let's just say that the Stoll brothers aren't the only ones with sticky fingers.” Percy shrugged.  
Leo nodded appreciatively and opened the Hephaestus cabin door, letting them both inside once he knew the coast was clear. They hurried down to Leo's private room and sealed themselves inside.

“Fuck. I forgot a lighter.” Said Percy, frowning into his backpack, an unlit cigarette between his lips.

“You forget who you're talking to?” Leo said, raising an eyebrow and lifting his hand to show Percy a handful of flames dancing across his skin, lighting the cigarette for him. Percy laughed.

“Fair point, dude. Did you manage to get some blades?”

Leo showed him the knives.

“Celestial bronze. From the spare weapons storeroom. Nobody will notice they're gone.” He smiled, pleased with himself.

“Good. You fancy a movie?”

“Sure. I was thinking something fun. Like Iron Man or something.”

“I love that movie. Let's do it.”

Leo loaded up the movie and jumped onto his bed.

“Um, h-how are we going to do this?” Leo asked shyly.

“Neither of us is attracted to the other, it's a completely platonic relationship, so I don't see the harm or danger in us just sitting in our boxers. It'll be more comfortable, and you know, then there's more available skin to cut.”

“Okay. As long as you're sure.” Leo shrugged and took off his jeans and Percy's hoodie, settling back on his bed in just his boxer shorts. Percy chucked him a bottle of rum before he too stripped down to his boxer briefs. Leo's eyes couldn't help but skate over Percy's body, taking in the scars that littered his body, but it neither repulsed him or aroused him, which was good.

Percy joined Leo on top of his covers, sitting next to him and inspecting the cuts that Leo had made so far.

“None of them are infected, which is good. You've done a pretty neat job, honestly.”

“Cheers.” Leo said, taking a swig from his rum bottle and coughing.

“Easy there, wrench monkey. Baby steps.” Percy laughed, clapping him on the back.

“Here you go.” Said Leo, passing him one of the knives. “We might as well keep these. Nobody else is going to use them.”

“Fair enough.” Percy conceded, looking at the knife.

Leo started by experimentally pressing the knife in underneath his right collarbone. Blood bubbled up and trickled down his chest, making a tiny little pool in his belly button.

“Cool. You hardly have to press down at all, these are so sharp.” Leo said approvingly, watching Percy make a long incision across his thigh.

“Not bad.” Percy agreed, taking a sip from his rum bottle.

“Oh, look! Iron Man's got the first arc reactor in already!” Leo pointed at the television.

They watched the movie, munching on snacks, binge-drinking rum, and cutting away at their bodies. At one point in the night, Leo decided to carve the words 'NOT WORTHY' into his thigh in pointy capital letters. 

Eventually, they both got tired. So they took care to dress each other's wounds properly, having come down a little bit from their drunken high, and Percy dug out some pyjamas from his backpack before getting changed in Leo's bathroom. Leo used the time to get changed into his own pyjamas and went into the bathroom after Percy to brush his teeth.

They settled down for the night, Percy sleeping at the other end of Leo’s bed and they both drifted off into a fitful slumber, only to be rudely awoken by a loud scream of horror.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What will happen the morning after Leo and Percy both spiralled into the darkness of their own minds? What on Earth will their friends say? And who screamed?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The last chapter got quite dark, and this chapter starts out pretty dark as well, but I absolutely pinkie promise that towards the end of the chapter things start looking up for our demigod friends. 
> 
> T xx

**Percy's POV**

The scream cut through Percy’s dream like a knife, startling him from his sleep. He sat up, groaning and squinting around him. Everything was just as he and Leo had left it the night before; the empty rum bottles lying on the floor, cigarette butts strewn everywhere, splashes of blood staining Leo’s bedsheets. Leo himself was stirring from his slumber, much as Percy was, and sat up, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

Percy noticed that the blood had seeped through the bandages that were wrapped around Leo, leaving patches of red on his pyjamas. Looking down at himself, Percy found that he was in a similar situation. The places that he had cut himself ached and stung all over, and Percy knew that Leo must be feeling the same sort of thing.

Leo and Percy made the briefest of eye contact, before both of them remembered what had woken them up. Both of them blanched, a sick feeling dropping into their stomachs, like ice.

Both of them turned to look at the corner of the room nearest to the entrance, where the noise had come from, and they saw Nico and Will standing there, paralyzed in horror.

“What happened?!” Will cried, seemingly unable to move.

“What are you doing in here?!” Leo screamed, trying to pull the bedsheets up to cover his bloodstained pyjamas (though this didn't really help, as the bedsheets were also covered in blood splatters). “This is my private room!! You can’t just come barging in here! I don't come strolling casually into _your_ cabin without permission, do I?!”

“After the intervention, we couldn't find either of you anywhere at Camp, no matter where we looked, and we couldn't get in here to check if you were here. So I got Nico to shadow-travel me down here, just to be on the safe side.” Will cried, his eyes red and puffy. Percy could see tears starting to fall down his face. Nico just looked too distraught to say anything at all.

“Fuck.” Percy swore under his breath, looking at Leo.

He thought about how this must look from someone else's perspective: two demigods, both of them with a history of mental illness and self-harm, disappear after very emotional confrontations, and nobody can find them. Percy thought about how much it must have panicked their friends when they couldn't find him or Leo. And then, Will and Nico come down here, and it looks like a murder scene: Percy and Leo both with blood seeping through the clothes they're wearing, empty bottles on the floor, cigarettes everywhere, and blood smeared on the bedsheets. It must have looked as though Percy and Leo had both committed suicide.

Oh gods no, Percy thought. What was _Jason_ going to say? He was bound to break up with Percy now, after he'd fallen off of the wagon like this. But Percy's heart twisted with guilt; Jason would think that this was _his_ fault. He'd put all the blame on himself, not only for the disastrous intervention, but for Percy and Leo being led to do what they'd done. He'd blame himself for them feeling so awful that they felt the need to self-harm.

Percy decided right then; he couldn't face Jason, couldn't bare to see the completely heartbroken and betrayed look that was sure to be on his face when he heard what had happened. Percy needed to _run_ , like his life freaking depended on it. Apparently Leo had just come to a similar sort of conclusion, for he leapt out of bed faster than an angry hellhound.

“Run! Come on, Percy! Let's go!” Leo grabbed hold of Percy's arm (Percy felt a stinging pain where Leo had grabbed it and realised that that must have been one of the places that he'd cut himself last night) and pushed past Nico and Will, sprinting for the stairs and pulling Percy along with him.

Eventually, Percy's brain caught up with him and he started running too so Leo didn't have to keep pulling him. They burst out of the secret doorway to Leo's private room and heard frightful screams from the other Hephaestus kids as they saw the blood on Percy and Leo as they sprinted past them and out of the Hephaestus cabin.

Percy realised that both Leo and himself were still in their pyjamas (through which more blood was starting to ever so slowly seep) and that they were both barefoot, but the adrenaline flooding Percy’s system stopped him from feeling the sting of the twigs on the soles of his feet as he trampled them.

Other campers stopped and stared and pointed at them as they ran, obviously also seeing the blood on them. Percy looked quickly behind them as they ran to see Nico and Will, now joined by their other friends, running desperately after them.

“Where are we going to go?!” Percy yelled in panic to Leo as they continued to run.

“The forest!” Leo yelled back. “It’ll be harder for them to find us in there! We can lose them in the trees!”

Leo and Percy ran as fast as they could towards the treeline, disappearing between the trees. They ran until their lungs hurt. They ran until they were completely sure that they had lost the others, then they stopped momentarily, panting with their hands on their knees.

“Where are we going to go, Percy?” Leo whimpered, the emotions catching up to him. “They’re still going to look for us. You know that.”

“Yeah.” Percy paced in agitation, running a hand through his hair. Then an idea came to him. “Okay, Valdez, here's the plan. We just need to get somewhere where they either won't be able to find us until we want to be found, or that they won't be able to get to until we let them.”

“Yeah? You got my bright ideas?” Leo snapped at him.

“Yeah! Come on!” Percy said, already starting to jog in the right direction. “The lake.”

“Why the lake?” Leo said, jogging up alongside him.

“My powers mean that I can allow us both to breathe underwater, so you won't drown. And if I'm in the water, I'll be able to stop people from getting too close to where we're hiding.”

“Perfect. Let's go.”

They ran quickly, but tried to be as quiet as possible, so the others wouldn't be able to tell where they were if they were still looking for them in the forest. They also made sure to stay under cover of the leafy canopy, just in case Frank or Jason was flying around, trying to spot them from above.

They got to the small little meadow right near the pile of rocks that formed Zeus's fist, and came skidding to a halt at the edge of a steep cliff that bordered the lake.

“I can see them! They're here! Quick!” They heard Piper's voice yelling for the others. Percy and Leo whipped round and saw the others running towards them, shouting their names.

“Fuck! Percy, what are we going to do?!” Leo yelled, looking desperately around for an escape route.

Percy watched as the others got closer and closer.

“Leo! Do you trust me?!” Percy yelled to him.

“Yes!” Leo said, staring petrified at their friends who were nearly halfway towards them across the meadow.

“Then jump!” Percy yelled, turning round and taking a running leap off the edge of the cliff and diving into the water below. He heard renewed screams from their friends as Leo jumped as well, both of them plummeting towards the icy cold water.

*****

**Jason's POV**

Jason yelled out in anger and kicked a nearby log in frustration as they reached the edge of the cliff. Thunder rumbled overhead, and lightning flashed across the sky. Percy and Leo had already jumped. Jason groaned angrily and sat down heavily on the log, burying his head in his hands and pulling at his hair. Most of the others were looking over the edge of the cliff or pacing agitatedly around the meadow.

“They’ll be fine, won't they? I mean, Percy wouldn't let Leo drown. And Percy can't drown in the first place.” Piper said nervously, sitting down next to Jason.

“Yeah. But did you see them though? They looked like fucking corpses. And the blood on – Oh Gods. Percy.” Jason started crying. The love of his life was suffering, and Jason, the person that was meant to love him and know him better than anyone else in the entire world, hadn't known that he was suffering. It was _all his fault_. The intervention had been _his_ idea, _he'd_ insisted on going ahead with it even though Percy and Will had said that it was a bad idea. _He_ was the one that had shouted at Percy, and caused him to run off. That argument must have been the catalyst for Percy to spiral downwards.

“It's all my fault.” Jason whispered shakily, tears glittering in his eyes as he stared at the grass.

“Jason, none of this is your fault. Percy and Leo have free will, and pre-existing mental health problems. There's no way you could've known.” Will said sternly, crouching down in front of him.

“It was that stupid argument with Percy. That's what caused him to... I just don't know what happened. I didn't think I'd said anything so terrible, did I?” Jason asked, his voice cracking with grief. It was Annabeth who answered him.

“You called him an idiot, Jason.”

“So? What's so terrible about that? I mean, yeah, it was kind of mean, but there are much worse things to call someone.”

“Not to Percy.” Annabeth shook her head. Jason looked at her, confused. “Well think about it, Jason. His _whole_ life, wherever he's gone, Percy's been told that he's the ‘stupid dyslexic kid' who struggles to read and write properly. He was shunted from school to school, getting terrible marks no matter how hard he worked or how much he tried, and he acted out and caused trouble because of it. He's been called an idiot his whole life, I think it just hurt him much more because it came from _you_. You're the love of his life, and _you_ said the _one thing_ that everybody else has said about him, and he probably thought that you'd be the one person he could trust to never think of him as stupid.”

“Fuck.” Jason said under his breath, running a hand through his hair. “So it _is_ all my fault.”

“No. It. Isn't.” Will said firmly.

“What happened in the Hephaestus cabin, guys?” Jason asked Nico and Will. “You said you found them in Leo's private room i-in b-bed together?” Jason asked in a small voice. Nico looked at him.

“It wasn't like that, Jason. Percy would _never_ cheat on you with _anyone_. He loves you with all his heart. And Leo would never betray you like that. You're his best friend, Jason.” Nico reassured Jason, sparing him a sympathetic glance.

Jason sighed in relief. He had to admit that that was what his brain had jumped to when he'd heard how Nico and Will had found them. His stomach had clenched in agony at the thought of Percy being so angry with him as to cheat on him with his _best friend_ no less. Now that he actually thought about it though, he realised how ridiculous he was being. He and Percy adored each other; they were engaged, for gods' sake! He knew Percy was too good to ever do something so cruel. And Leo was a fiercely loyal friend; he'd even been helping Jason with his original plan to propose to Percy on Christmas.

“You're right, Nico. Of course you're right.” Jason said, shaking his head as though to shake the thought out of his head. “I’m just scared... I just want Percy to be okay. And Leo, too.”

“We all do, Jason.” Piper said soothingly.

Frank flew back up to the cliff face (Jason hadn't noticed that he'd left) and landed in the meadow, transforming from an eagle back to human.

“There's no getting near them. I tried swimming down there as a koi fish, but there's a cyclone. It's stopping anything from getting anywhere near them. I barely managed to fly out of there as it is.” Frank said in a bitter voice. Hazel walked over to him and hugged him.  
Now that Jason looked, he could indeed see a violent tropical storm, like a typhoon, covering the lake. The waters were choppy and rough. Percy was obviously trying to make sure that nobody could get to them.

“I just wish I could tell Percy how much I love him and how sorry I am.” Jason said, gazing wistfully at the stormy lake.

“I know, Jace.” Hazel said. “But we can't do anything for the time being if we can't even get anywhere near them. I guess that all we can do is wait for them to come back out of the lake.”

**Leo's POV**

Leo expected to feel the freezing cold water seeping into his pyjamas, the immediate pressure on his lungs as his body struggled not to breathe in the water, the intense pain of his bones breaking as his body smacked into the lake. But he didn’t feel any of that.

Instead, he felt like he'd jumped from a cliff and had landed in a pile of warm, soft pillows, so gentle was his landing in the water. When it felt like his lungs were going to burst and he had to breathe, he found that he could breathe just as well as he could on land.

He looked around him and saw that he and Percy were surrounded by a large bubble. Leo sat at the bottom of the bubble, where Percy was already, and buried his head in his hands. He noticed that he was soaked with water, but that he wasn't freezing cold. Percy, who was sitting across from him was perfectly dry by virtue of being the son of Poseidon.

“Hold on.” He said. He waved a hand in Leo's direction and Leo felt himself and his pyjamas dried in an instant.

“Thanks.” Leo said. Then he cried out in misery. “Why did it have to fucking happen to us? Why?” Leo sobbed hysterically, hugging his knees to his chest. He winced at the pain from all of the cuts on his body, some of which were still bleeding. Leo wasn't surprised. They'd probably opened up the few of the cuts that had started scabbing over because of the stress they’d put their bodies under whilst running through the forest.

Percy stripped off his pyjamas so that he was just in his boxers and started peeling all of the bandages off of his body, inspecting all the open wounds. He threw the bandages aside, and they drifted out of the bubble and were held in their own little bubble next to the one that Percy and Leo were in.

Leo decided to follow Percy's actions and did the same. He whimpered in pain as he peeled the bandages off from where they were stuck to his bloodied skin. He threw them in the general direction that Percy had thrown his, and Percy used his surfer-dude-water-powers to put Leo's bandages into the same bubble as his.

Percy then threw his hand towards the surface of the water and the bubble with both of their bandages in it soared upwards.

“Those bandages are no use to us now, and I don't want them polluting the lake, so I just threw them up on the cliff that we jumped from.” Percy wasn't in tears like Leo was; he looked exhausted and Leo reckoned that Percy was keeping it together for the both of them.

“O-okay...” Leo stuttered. “B-but Percy, w-w-what if they get the naiads t-to help them and bring us to the s-s-s-surface? Or what if F-frank turns into a sea creature to come and g-get us?” Leo was hyperventilating now.

“Sssshhhh, Leo, it's okay. You're fine. Just breathe.” Percy soothed gently. “Nobody is going to be able to get to us down here. The naiads will obey me over any of the others. Son of Poseidon, remember? And the others won't even be able to step foot in this lake without me knowing. Besides, I made a nice little cyclone over the surface of the lake, so nobody will be stupid enough to try. It's too dangerous for them.” Percy rubbed the space between Leo's shoulder blades to try and calm him down.

“O-okay. Th-th-thank y-you, P-p-percy.”

“No worries, wrench monkey. While we're down here though, do you want to talk about all this? Y'know, with someone that might understand some of it?”

Leo hesitated, but then nodded, all the fight draining out of him. Percy shifted so that he was sitting right next to Leo. They watched the colourful fish that populated the lake swimming around them. It was oddly soothing to watch.

“Why don't you start from the beginning?” Percy suggested lightly.

Leo took a deep breath, and told Percy everything. He told Percy about how he always felt like the odd one out surrounded by all the happy couples, how his emotions were always fluctuating from feeling everything at once to feeling absolutely nothing at all. He told Percy about the anxiety, the depression, the PTSD, the fidgeting and the stuttering. And he told Percy about that one time in Bunker 9 that had started the self-harm.

Percy listened to everything Leo said with the greatest patience, even when Leo started stuttering so badly that his speech was barely coherent. After Leo had finished explaining, he felt very raw and emotional, and Percy just hugged him until Leo felt peaceful and calm. Leo winced and hissed in pain as Percy let go of him, betraying just how much pain the cuts were giving him. Percy looked as though he wasn't doing much better.

“Wait, I have an idea.” Percy said. He stuck his arm outside of the bubble (which somehow didn't pop) and water ran along Percy's arm and over his entire body, forming a sort of coating over him from the neck down. And before Leo's eyes, all of the cuts on Percy's body started healing, first stitching themselves together with scabs, and then healing completely over, leaving nothing but scars. Leo stared at Percy in shock.

“Okay, that was cool, dude! You just used your superhero fish-gills powers to heal yourself! That's amazing!” Leo said in awe.

“Come here, wrench monkey.” Percy said, and he placed a hand firmly on Leo's shoulder, and now, the water that had been covering Percy travelled onto Leo from Percy's arm.

Leo felt the strangest of sensations. He could feel the water on his skin, and he could also feel this strange tingling sensation coming from all the cuts on his body. He watched in amazement as he saw the words he'd carved into his thigh heal until they were scarred over. When all of them were scars rather than open wounds, Percy directed the water from Leo back out of the bubble and into the lake, leaving Leo completely dry, no longer in pain, and nice and cosy warm. _And_ his burgeoning hangover was gone too!

“Th-thanks.” Leo said, still gazing transfixed at the new scars on his body.

“You’re welcome.” Percy said, pushing his fringe back off his face. “I didn't think you'd mind the scars. It just takes a bit more time and concentration to heal things 100%. But if you want me to—”

“No, it's fine. Don't overwork yourself here. You're already keeping both of us breathing and keeping a cyclone going up there.” Leo said, pointing to the surface. “And I don't mind having the scars. They'll hopefully serve as a reminder...” Leo tailed off, wrapped up in his thoughts. Percy spoke up to fill the silence.

“You know this isn't going to stay quiet, Leo. You know that, right?” Percy sighed heavily. “All of our friends saw us. A lot of the other campers saw us running for our lives and covered in blood. It will have travelled round the whole camp by now. I know it's not what either of us wants to hear, but everybody at Camp Half-Blood is going to know about our crappy mental health now. Everybody's going to know about the self-harm. Probably about all the other crap too.” Percy continued delicately, as though trying as hard as he could to not frighten Leo.

“Yeah, I know.” Leo said, hugging his knees to his chest and resting his head on them, resigned to his fate. “Everybody’s going to be pointing and staring and asking questions that we don't want to answer. Our business is now going to become everybody else's business, isn't it?”

“Yeah probably.” Said Percy unenthusiastically. “Our friends definitely won't let us be by ourselves for a while. We both know that he’ll want to keep an eye on us twenty-four hours a day just to make sure we're not off somewhere cutting ourselves.”

“Yeah, I know. I don't like it, but I know.” Leo said. “Percy, is there anything you can do about these?” Leo said, holding up his bloodstained pyjamas with distaste. Percy looked thoughtfully at them and then picked up his own pyjamas.

He threw them out of the bubble and into the lake. He then wiggled his finger in a circular motion and Percy's pyjamas started spinning around as though they were in a washing machine. After a while, Percy's pyjamas drifted back into the bubble and dried themselves off. Percy grabbed them and inspected them.

“Huh. That worked pretty well.” He said approvingly, showing his pyjamas to Leo. They were perfectly clean, not a spot of blood on them.

“That's incredible.” Leo said as Percy pulled his pyjamas back on. “Would you mean – I mean – would it be okay if... Could you?” Percy smiled fondly at Leo as he fumbled with his words.

“Give them here.” Percy yanked Leo's pyjamas out of his hands and did the same trick as he used with his. He handed the clean, dry pyjamas back to Leo, who accepted them gratefully and pulled them back on.

They sat at the bottom of the lake in their bubble, peacefully watching the fish swimming around them in companionable silence. After a while, maybe a couple of hours or so after they'd jumped into the lake, Percy and Leo agreed that they'd hidden themselves away for long enough, that they should probably face the music and to back up to the surface.

*****

Percy used his powers to make the bubble rise up to the surface and deposit them directly on the beach, both of them still perfectly dry (and now blood-free). Percy turned round towards the lake and made the cyclone calm down. Just as they were about to start walking back towards camp, they heard a shout, and both of them were nearly knocked off their feet as Jason ploughed into them at great speed and enveloped them both in a crushing hug.

Before Percy and Leo could really comprehend what was happening, the others had joined Jason, and Percy and Leo found themselves in the middle of a group hug consisting of them, Jason, Will and Nico, Annabeth and Piper, and Hazel and Frank.

Leo could feel his anxiety starting to rise again, but luckily Will spoke up.

“Come on, guys. Back up, let's give them some room.” He said, sniffing and wiping tears off his face with the cuff of his Camp Half-Blood jumper. Everybody let go of Percy and Leo reluctantly and backed away a little bit, though Jason stubbornly stayed right next to Percy with an alarm around him.

“First thing's first. How are you guys feeling? Are you okay now? Or a bit better at least?” Will said gently, looking at them.

Leo hesitated, then slowly pulled up the long sleeve of his pyjama t-shirt to show Will.

“Percy healed us both in the water. So physically, we're both hunky-dory. But—”

“But mentally and emotionally, it's going to be a while until we feel much better. We will be fine eventually, but it'll take time.” Percy took over from Leo and bowed his head.

“That’s understandable.” Annabeth nodded sadly. “What happened though, Seaweed Brain? You were doing so much better.”

“I... I just – I thought that – Oh, Jason!” Percy wailed, clutching onto Jason like his life depended on it and sobbing into his chest.

“Hey, sssshhhh, it's okay, Percy. It's all okay.” Jason soothed, wrapping his arms gently around Percy and rubbing his back gently. But Percy didn't hear him.

“Please – Jason, I'm so sorry! P-please don't leave me!” Percy hiccoughed. “Please d-d-don't ask me for the ring back!” Percy sobbed in devastation.

“Wait, what?” Jason said, surprised.

“I – I know that I messed up and I'm awful, and an idiot, and I fell off the wagon and started drinking again and hurt myself, b-but please don't break up with me! Please don't take back the engagement ring.” Percy cried. Leo could hear Percy drawing in heaving gasps of breath and sporadic hiccoughs making Percy's words fairly difficult to understand.

“Percy, why would I want to break up with you? Why would I ever want to take the ring back from you?” Jason asked, his voice full of surprised incredulity. “I love you, Percy. Nothing's going to change that.”

“B-but you shouldn’t have to marry the stupid idiot dyslexic demigod with a messed up brain.” Percy said in a small voice, barely able to make eye contact with Jason. With difficulty, he pulled the ring off of his finger and held it out for Jason to take. Leo's heart dropped. This couldn't be happening, right? Jason and Percy weren't seriously going to call off their engagement?

“Look, Percy. I'm sorry I called you an idiot. I let my anger get the better of me, and I said something that was very unfair to you in the heat of the moment. But I promise you that I love you no matter what, and that I _definitely_ still want to marry you. So you better put that fucking ring back on your finger.” Jason said softly. Percy just stared transfixed at Jason, apparently to scared to believe that Jason was actually serious, if the hopeful look on his face was any indication. Jason took the ring out of Percy's hand and gently slid it back into the ring finger of Percy's left hand, kissing it gently afterwards.

Jason then pulled Percy into a hug. He looked over Percy’s shoulder at Leo and raised an eyebrow, mutely asking Leo if he really was okay. Leo nodded and gave Jason a watery smile, and Jason turned away and led Percy back to Camp in a gentle hold.

The remaining demigods all looked at Leo, who folded his arms around himself as though to hide from their attention. He didn't want to think how angry they all were with him for dragging Percy along with him. If it wasn't for Leo's messed up head, Percy might not have been influenced to do what he’d done the night before. But the shouting didn't come. Leo couldn't feel the hateful stares of his friends burning a hole through him, nor could he feel the sting of a slap, or the full pain that came with being punched.

Instead, Leo felt arms wrapping around him in a gentle hug. He opened his eyes (which he'd previously squeezed shut in anticipation of what was to come) to see Hazel holding him and rubbing soothing circles into his back. She let him go after a short while, and one by one, all of his friends gave him a short but extremely meaningful hug, in a silent show of support and comfort, and Leo appreciated it more than words could say.

“I - I'm s-so...” Leo struggled to finish his sentence, his stutter acting up again. He growled in frustration at his own ineptitude and starting berating himself in an anything mutter.

“Hey, hey, Leo, it's ok. Just take your time. Don't get angry at yourself.” Will said soothingly and patiently.

“I'm sorry.” Leo mumbled eventually, finally able to communicate without his words coming out with the fluency of a faulty engine.

“Hey, that's enough of that. You have nothing to be sorry for, Valdez. Now, let's get you back to the Poseidon cabin. We're going to have a happy fluffy movie marathon for the rest of the day. And because I know you probably don't want to have to speak to the other campers right now, we'll bring food in from the dining pavilion.” Nico said resolutely, marching Leo back up to Camp, a gentle hand on his back guiding him around. Leo could _sense_ rather than actually _see_ him glaring at any campers who dared to stare in Leo's general direction (most people were justifiably intimidated by Nico’s infamous 'Ghost King stare of death', as Leo called it). Only Nico’s close friends knew just how soft and innocent he was on the inside. He had the largest collection of Disney movies of anyone Leo had ever met.

When they got to the Poseidon cabin, they found Percy sitting in bed in his comfiest, cosiest pyjamas and fluffy dressing gown, wrapped up in a blanket, with Jason cuddling him possessively. They'd already queued up the movie and were waiting for the others to get themselves sorted.

Jason got up briefly from the bed to pull Leo into a crushing hug, tightly wrapping his arms around Leo's shoulders. When he pulled away, he said nothing, but handed Leo a plastic bag and nodded towards the bathroom. Leo peered curiously into the carrier bag and saw a change of pyjamas for him (his favourite ones; a fluffy black onesie of Toothless from How To Train Your Dragon) and his plush cuddly toy (Stitch from Lilo and Stitch) which had been birthday presents from Nico and Will. They'd known that Stitch and Toothless were his favourite cartoon characters.

Leo scuttled off to the adjacent bathroom and got changed, pausing to look in the mirror over the sink and look at all the new scars on his body; there were the words 'NOT WORTHY' carved into this thigh which he could read when he looked down at them, but which appeared before down and flipped round the wrong way in the mirror. There were numerous slash marks littering his ribs, thighs, arms, and chest. Sighing, Leo pulled on the onesie and zipped it up, pulling the hood on to his head. He enjoyed the comfortable warmth it gave him. He pushed the sleeves up to his elbows. Fuck it, the others knew already, and it felt more natural to Leo to have his forearms and hands free to move as they wanted.

He grabbed his Stitch plushie and walked out the bathroom, depositing the bag of his old pyjamas by the door. The others were waiting for him when he emerged. Nothing was said about the scars on Leo's arms, Will just pulled him onto the floor and sandwiched Leo in the middle of a blanket burrito. He then took Leo's arms in a gentle but firm grip and inspected the scars, just to make sure that they were all healed without any problems.

Nico picked up the television remote and the movie started playing. It was Moana; Percy's second favourite (after Finding Nemo, of course). Everybody enjoyed the movie; Piper sang beautifully along with the songs, and Frank amused everyone (even producing small chuckles from Percy and Leo) by imitating Maui whenever he transformed into another animal.

After Moana, they watched the Disney Hercules movie, and had great fun laughing at the hugely inaccurate depictions of the gods. Nico huffed and crossed his arms grumpily at the fact that Hades was always depicted as the bad guy, when in comparison to the other gods, he was often much more reasonable and fair. Leo had to admit he had a point. Hades was much less of a loose cannon than Zeus, Hera, Aphrodite, Ares, to name just a few.

A little while later, Piper, Annabeth, and Frank disappeared and returned a few minutes later laden with armfuls of tasty food and snacks, fizzy soda (including blue varieties of everything for Percy), and jugs of steaming hot coffee and hot chocolate.

The rest of the day and the evening continued in the same sort of fashion; Disney cartoons, comfort food, and hot cocoa. And before Leo knew it, his head was dropping sideways onto Piper's shoulder and he was falling asleep.

*****

It took about two weeks, two tedious, excruciatingly long weeks, before everyone stopped treading on eggshells around Leo and Percy and started treating them normally again. Chiron had summoned them both to the Big House and had offered himself if either of them needed someone to talk to confidentially about things. Percy and Leo politely said that they would accept the offer of they ever needed to.

At last, though, all the other campers stopped treating them as though they were about to break into pieces, and life went back to a relatively normal pattern (or as normal as it ever got for a demigod a Camp Half-Blood).

Three weeks or so after 'the incident', and Leo was having an excellent specimen of a pepperoni pizza for lunch, ignoring the occasional sideways glances as people looked at his scarred arms, which he didn't really bother to cover most of the time. Whenever anybody asked why he didn't cover them up and try to hide them, Leo always told them that it was because he wasn't ashamed of the fact that he was struggling. He preferred having the scars and people seeing them than the thought of them having to attempt to burn his corpse in mourning (which Leo didn't reckon would work in any case, he was fireproof after all). He said (completely truthfully) that he'd rather have the scars and be there to tell the tale. They showed that he survived, that he wasn't perfect but that he was working on himself, improving himself; not necessarily for others, but for himself.

Anyway, back to the pizza – it was so cheesy and gooey and amazing, when all of a sudden, desperate shouting could be heard and people were running past the dining pavilion with weapons and full armour, screaming that there was someone at the camp borders.

“Arm yourselves!” Clarisse said authoritatively, every bit the fierce warrior and leader that she was. “Defend the camp! Fight for our safety! Anybody capable of wielding a weapon, follow me to Thalia's pine! And prepare yourselves for battle!”

There was the deafening sound of scraping benches as the campers rose from their seats en masse, and armed themselves in preparation to defend their home.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What's all this commotion at Thalia's tree? Who is the mysterious visitor? And what will his arrival mean for our favourite group of demigods?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter's super long, so sorry about that. I just had a specific point in my mind of where I wanted to end the chapter. Hope everyone enjoys it!
> 
> Trigger warnings for mentions of past abuse. Stay safe, guys.
> 
> T xx

**Jason's POV**

Jason unsheathed his sword and joined the rush of campers heading towards Thalia's pine, preparing for battle.

Monsters had slowly started showing up again after the battle with Gaia, the first sighting having been three months or so after the battle had been fought and Gaia defeated.

Jason couldn't think what was causing all the commotion; surely, any monster that could show up at the camp's borders wouldn't require the collective population of Camp Half-Blood to fight it, and it wouldn't be able to get past the camp border in the first place, unless it was invited in by one of the campers. That thought _did_ trouble Jason, but he supposed that, in that case, defeating the monster should be addressed _first_ , and _then_ they could find out who had let it in. The _real_ reason for the disturbance, however, was even more devastating and terrifying than Jason could have ever predicted.

Jason’s heart stopped, and he could feel his lungs struggling to take in air as he looked towards the towering pine tree, the Golden Fleece glittering on one of its branches, and Gaia herself standing just beyond the boundary, and she wasn't alone; she was accompanied by what looked, from this distance, like a hunch-backed troll, maybe a head or so taller than Leo.

The hunchback stood half-behind Gaia, as though trying to conceal itself. A shy monster? That was something you didn't see everyday.  
Then again, Jason wasn’t sure he could blame the creature; every single one of the gathered campers (even if they were reluctant to advance on their current visitors) had their chosen weapons pointing directly at Gaia and her companion. Gaia, however, seemed utterly calm, holding up a white banner, signalling the wish to talk with an enemy under the solemn oath of safety for both parties, a sign of peace.

The rest of the campers parted to make way for Chiron, the demigods of the Prophecy of Seven, Will, and Nico, who all moved forward with the utmost caution, all their weapons drawn as they stopped just at Thalia's pine, being very careful not to step over the boundary. Closer up, Jason could see that Gaia's eyes were closed. He breathed a sigh of slight relief; Gaia wasn't awake, she was at neither her most powerful not most dangerous.

“What do you want, dirt-head?” Leo said stiffly. Jason looked at him and could tell that Leo was barely holding it together. His forehead was sweaty, his skin pale, his eyes were wide and bulging in fear, his hands were shaking, and Jason could see his chest rapidly rising and falling as he struggled to control his breathing.

Obviously, Jason thought, Leo was bound to be particularly affected by Gaia's presence; after all, he was the one that had made the final move in defeating her, which very nearly resulted in his death, and had caused no small amount of trauma. Jason tried to inconspicuously step in front of Leo, to block him from Gaia's view, to block Gaia from his view, and to protect him. Out of the corners of his eyes, he could spot all the rest of his friends following suit and forming a protective circle around Leo.

“Leonidas Valdez? I confess myself surprised that you are still alive. However, it is pleasing to see you still walking about.” Gaia said in her misty and sleepy voice, the sand of her face shifting slowly but continuously.

“What is your purpose in coming here, Gaia?” Chiron said acidly. “How are you able to appear on this Earth? We thought we had defeated you for good.”

“Chiron.” Gaia acknowledged, inclining her head towards him. “If you would be amenable, I would appreciate the opportunity to speak peacefully with you and the demigods of prophecy that defeated me.”

“I will not risk the safety of these children.” Chiron refused.

“ **I SWEAR ON THE RIVER STYX** that nobody shall come to harm today as the result of mine or my companion's actions. I simply wish to speak with you about a matter that is of great importance to me. I ask that you hear me out, and if, after that, you do not wish to accept my offer, then my dependant and I shall leave peacefully and not bother you again.” Gaia said, the merest hint of a plea in her voice.  
Chiron hesitated. He seemed to wrestle internally with himself, swishing his tail in agitation.

“Very well.” Chiron said reluctantly. “But you may not cross the border for now, I shall join you on your side, as may any of the demigods of prophecy who wish to join me. I shall not force any of them to be in your company if they do not wish to hear what you have to say.”

“Thank you.” Gaia sighed, relieved. “That is very reasonable.”

“The rest of you, back to your activities!” Chiron called, dismissing the campers, some of whom left all too willingly, some reluctantly, thoroughly unwilling to let Gaia out of their sight. Chiron waited until all of the demigods had made themselves scarce (apart from Jason, Percy, Piper, Annabeth, Frank, Hazel, Nico, Will, and Leo), who all followed Chiron past the border.

“Mr Solace, Mr di Angelo. Back to your activities, please. Neither of you were part of the Prophecy of Seven.”

Both Will and Nico shouted in indignation.

“Fat chance! We're not going anywhere!”

“Chiron come _on_! That's so unfair!”

“They may stay if they wish. I have no objections. Do you, Isaac?” Gaia now turned to the hunchback who had until now been hidden silent behind her. He shook his head, but said nothing.

“Who is this?” Piper said, peering at him suspiciously.

“Isaa—”

“Isaac Atwell.”

Jason turned to see Percy staring in disbelief at the newcomer.

“Yes. I reckon you indeed _will_ recognise him, Percy Jackson.”

The boy looked up at Percy in astonishment, evidently not having noticed Percy beforehand. He tapped Gaia on her shoulder and started communicating with her in furious sign language.

“You wouldn't have believed me if I'd told you he was here, child. And you know that.” Gaia argued, but her voice was remarkably soft, Jason hadn't thought that Gaia would have been capable of such kindness and patience towards another being; everything that they'd encountered of her had led them to believe her to be a callous, evil, purely hateful being.

“Dude! It’s been ages! I can't believe you're here, man!” Percy started forward.

“Percy! Be careful!” Jason called.

Percy ignored his fiancé's warning, making Jason bristle with indignation in spite of himself, though he knew that Percy was, of course, perfectly capable of defending himself; he was one of the best swordsmen that Jason had ever met. Percy pulled Isaac Atwell into a hug, clapping him on the back. Isaac hesitantly brought his arms up to pat Percy on the shoulders.

“If it's not too much trouble, Percy baby, would you mind telling us how you know... this boy?” Jason said stiffly.

“Oh! Yeah! Of course, Jace! Um, guys, this is Isaac Atwell. His dad was one of my ex-stepdad's poker mates in New York.”

“Your ex-stepdad? What was his name, Stinky Dave?” Annabeth clicked her fingers in front of her, trying to remember the name.

“Smelly Gabe.” Percy corrected. “Gabriel Ugliano. Scum of the Earth. Mum killed him with Medusa's severed head. Sold the 'sculpture' and paid for her college education by basically selling her husband's dead body.” Percy continued, grinning proudly.

“And his dad was Smelly Gabe's poker buddy?”

“Yep.” Percy nodded. “After Smelly Gabe was gone, I didn't see much of Isaac at all. But then we ended up going to Meriwether College Prep School together. That was where I met Tyson. You remember, Annabeth; that was the school that I destroyed playing Dodgeball with Laistrygonian Giants.”

At this point, Isaac started signing quickly at Percy, who started nodding enthusiastically. He shrank Riptide back down into a ballpoint pen so he could sign to Isaac as he spoke.

Wait, Percy knew sign language?!

“Yeah. I still keep up with Tyson. He's actually my long-lost half-brother, if you can believe that. How cool is that? He's going to be so happy to hear that you're still alive! My mom too!”

“Percy, darling, since when have you known sign language?” Jason said awkwardly. Evidently, there remained a fair amount that he didn't know about his fiancé.

“I learned sign language when I met Isaac. Me and Tyson both did. It seemed like it was only fair. He could understand what we were saying, but he couldn't voice his thoughts and stuff to us. Isaac’s not deaf, he’s just completely mute. Anyway, that didn't seem too fair, so we surprised him by learning sign language. It's pretty cool.” Percy shrugged as if it was no big deal, but Jason was so... impressed. Seriously, with his ADHD, sitting himself down and learning sign language was a pretty big achievement. Not to mention, it demonstrated to Jason another example of how Percy was just an inherently  _good_ person, the fact that he learned sign language just out of consideration of easier communication with a friend. It was just another thing about Percy that made Jason smile whenever he thought about him.

“So I'm guessing you know that the Greek and Roman myths are all true and all that jazz.” Leo spoke up (to everyone's surprise). His voice was more confident and steady than Jason could remember it being in weeks, maybe months. He was also signing along as he spoke, which was yet another surprise. Leo knew sign language as well, it seemed.

Isaac nodded and signed some more. Percy translated.

“He says ‘yeah’. He's curious about who everyone's godly parent is. He also says ‘hi, it's nice to meet everyone’.”

Introductions were made, all of the present demigods introducing themselves and denoting their godly parent.

“Yeah, and Tyson and me are sons of Poseidon.” Percy finished off. Isaac nodded, impressed.

“Tell us more about you. Are you a demigod? Who's your godly parent?” Leo said. “Sorry if my sign language is a little rusty, by the way. It's been a while.”

Isaac waved him down and signed back in reply.

“Isaac says 'not at all, your sign language is excellent’.” Percy translated, smiling. “He says that Leo's accent is impeccable.”

“That's a joke.” Said Leo in explanation to the blank stares that were given by most of the others. “Because obviously there isn't an accent to sign language, because it's non-verbal.”

Gaia spoke, which momentarily startled Jason; up until then she had not interrupted at all.

“That is, in essence, why we are here. Isaac is indeed a demigod. He is my only demigod child. I am Isaac's mother.”

Stunned silence followed this statement; the silence was so complete and choking that Jason thought that you would've been able to hear a butterfly's wings beating.

“Is this true?” Percy turned to Isaac, a hint of accusation in his voice, his eyes strangely blank.

Isaac flinched at Percy's tone but nodded. He bowed his head and signed something. This time it was Leo that translated.

“He said 'please don't hate me, Percy'.”

“I don't hate you, dude. Of course I don't. This is just... a surprise, to put it lightly. Do you know what _your mother_ has done?”

Isaac huffed angrily and signed back to Percy.

“He says that he knows all about what Gaia's done. She told him told him the truth about everything. She didn't spare him any of the gory details.”

“I know that I am a malevolent deity. I'm an evil goddess, I freely admit to that. But my son is an innocent demigod. He’d been being abused by his father for years. I saved him from his father as soon as I woke.”

“But you came here to battle straight after you woke up.”

“Oh, do grow up, won't you please, daughter of Athena? I am a primordial goddess, the _first_ being to walk this planet. I'm Mother Nature; do you really think that I am incapable of appearing in two different places at the same time? In my own domain?” Gaia said testily. “As soon as I woke, I went to my son and saved him from one of his father's attacks. After you warriors defeated me, I was once again asleep, yes, but I have had just enough strength and power to guide Isaac for the past year or so, help him survive, cultivate his powers, learn to defend himself. In short, I taught him how to survive as a demigod.”

“And why are you here?” Chiron interrupted.

“My strength is waning. Over history, since I was first sent to sleep, I have had to use my power to awaken only twice. Once in ancient times, and one, as you will all remember, very recently. I will not have the power to do so again. So I have come here with my only demigod son, and I plead that you will take him in and allow him to live at Camp Half-Blood. In return for that act of mercy, I shall disappear, and I shall never appear again, asleep or otherwise. I shall be imprisoned within my domain, as my husband Ouranos is in his domain of the sky. **I PROMISE ON THE RIVER STYX**.”

“You are asking a great deal, Gaia. Many of our campers died in the battle with you and your monsters. It is unlikely that they will welcome him with open arms. I'm sure that you can understand that.”

“Indeed. Which is why I wished to have this conversation with these demigods present. They seem to have a certain sort of authority at this camp; all of these particular campers, excluding Ms Levesque and Mr Zhang, are heads of their respective cabins. And Mr Zhang is a praetor at the Roman Camp. All of these demigods are very powerful and have a certain amount of respect within this camp. It was my hope that maybe even a couple or so of them would vouch for Isaac. If they supported the decision, the others should hopefully respect the decision of asylum for my son.”

Annabeth gasped. She seemed to have come to a sudden realisation.

“This was one of the reasons you wanted to be woken up in the first place, isn't it? Sure, you wanted to get revenge on the gods. But what you were really after was the opportunity to save your son.”

“Yes.” Gaia said, respectfully inclining her head to Annabeth. “Very astutely deduced, Miss Chase. I know I have done absolutely nothing to deserve the favour of the residents of Camp Half-Blood, but I'm begging you. I speak to you now, not as a goddess, but simply as a mother who wants to do right by her son. Please... I implore you... Help my Isaac. He has nowhere to go.”

Jason could hear the emotion in her voice. He was reminded forcefully for the time when his own mother had appeared to him as a mania at Odysseus's palace.

“This is a difficult situation...” Chiron started awkwardly, and somewhat lamely. “The gods would almost certainly strike the boy down as soon as he crossed the threshold of the camp border.”

“I have spoken to Zeus myself. We came to an agreement of sorts. He would allow my son safely into Camp Half-Blood, but only if it was agreed to by the Children of the Prophecy of Seven; if even one of them were to vouch for Isaac. It was Zeus's way of shifting the blame away from himself for the umpteenth time. And in return, I have vowed, as I have told you, that I will never again stir from my slumber. I do appreciate that this is a very difficult situation, and that this is not an easy decision. But I have made my case. My son and I shall now await your verdict, whatever that may be.” Gaia walked slightly away from the group, gesturing for Isaac to follow.

Jason knew that this was just for appearances; a goddess would of course still be able to hear whatever they were saying, but it was a polite gesture all the same.

The demigods bent their heads together with Chiron and began a hushed conversation.

“I don't like this.” Will said immediately.

“Nor do I. I mean, this is _Gaia_ , for the love of the gods! Why in heaven's name would we do anything for her?” Annabeth agreed.

“Isaac is my friend.” Percy growled. “He’s a good kid. And despite who his mother is, _he_ hasn't done anything wrong.”

“Percy, I think you're getting hung up on how you knew him before.” Nico pointed out.

“Of course I am.” Percy snapped. “But, how are we any different? None of the gods are exactly innocent, are they? They've all done crappy things throughout history. How can we judge anybody based on who their godly parent is? You're a son of Hades, Nico. You know better than most how unfair it is to inherit a reputation that you don't deserve. Same for you, Jace. Your dad is famously ruthless and unpredictable, but you're one of the best people I know. How can we justify _not_ giving Isaac a chance?” Percy pointed out.

“That’s... actually an extremely good argument.” Said Annabeth uneasily. “But I still don't like it.”

“I agree with Percy.” Leo said in a small voice. Everyone looked at him, and he squirmed under their scrutiny. “I don't want to g-go against everyone else, b-b-but I'll vouch for Isaac. He’s innocent. And he ss-seems like a n-n-nice g-guy.” Leo blushed furiously.

Jason raised an eyebrow. Was it possible that Leo was... getting a crush on Isaac, the son of the goddess that damn near killed him?

“I want to vouch for him as well.” Percy said, drawing their attention away from Leo. Jason could see Leo shooting Percy a grateful glance. “Please. I don't want to see my friend homeless and in danger.” Percy begged.

Jason links his fingers with Percy's.

“I'm in. If you trust this guy, Perce, then I can trust him too. Because I trust you. And you, Leo.” Percy beamed at him and pecked him on the cheek.

“Thank you, Jace.”

“Fine, we're in as well.” Piper and Annabeth said. The others all nodded solemnly.

“You know that most of the campers aren't going to like this at all, right? Shit’s going to hit the fan.” Nico pointed out.

“Yeah I know.” Percy sighed. “But we need to try.”

“So am I to take it that you are going to accept Gaia's offer?” Chiron said.

Jason looked round at the others.

“Yes.”

“Very well.” Chiron sighed wearily.

“Are you alright with this, Chiron?” Percy asked.

“I’ll stand by you all. If you are prepared to deal with any possible consequences that this may have, then I will allow it.”

“Thank you.” Percy grinned. Everybody straightened up and turned back towards Gaia and Isaac, who were still standing a way away, but watching them intently.

“We have reached a decision.” Chiron called. Gaia and Isaac made their way over.

“Yes?” Gaia said.

Jason could see the palpable hopefulness in Isaac's eyes.

“We will consent to take your son in. He may consider Camp Half-Blood his home from this day forth.”

Isaac rushed forward and wrapped Percy in a hug.

“Thank you. Truly.” Gaia said. “Out of interest, who will vouch for him to the other campers?”

“We all will.” Leo said, stepping forward and addressing Gaia directly. “We’ll try and keep your son safe.”

“I confess,” Gaia said, turning to Leo, “I’m surprised that you, in particular, are willing to touch for Isaac, given our history.”

“Oh, don't get me wrong. I despise you. I hate your guts, lady. You’re the fucking reason that my mom is dead. But none of the gods are anywhere near perfect, and demigods already pay the price enough for their parent's actions. Isaac is not you. He should not have to suffer for _your_ actions.”

“I thank you for this, Leo Valdez. Today, you are showing a level of maturity and compassion that most gods are as yet unable to comprehend after centuries of existence.”

Leo said nothing, but nodded curtly, his jaw clenched.

“There is one last favour to ask of you, Chiron, if you will allow it.” Gaia turned to the centaur.

“What?”

“After I fade away today, I will never again he able to see, hear, or communicate with my son ever again. And I have barely been able to know him as it is. I wish to bestow upon Isaac one last gift, if I may. A means of protection, and a friend.” Gaia said.

“I beg your pardon?” Chiron said, confused.

Gaia crouched close to the ground. A small fissure appeared and out of it rose an animal, a monster. She picked the creature up off the ground. Wait, was it a puppy?

A closer look, however, revealed that Jason's guess that it was a Rottweiler puppy, while incorrect, wasn't too far away from that truth, as it happened. In fact, it looked exactly like an ordinary Rottweiler puppy, except for the fact that it had three heads.

“You intend to ask us to allow not only your son, but to willingly allow a monster into our camp?” Chiron asked sceptically.

“He will obey any and every command that my son gives him. I assure you that he will understand my son perfectly well.” Gaia shrugged. “A final gift for my only half-decent child. He is one of Cerberus's litter of puppies, hence the three heads. When he reaches maturity, he will be the around the same size as that hellhound that Mr Jackson owns, Mrs O'Leary, I believe. He is also able to shadow-travel, just like a hellhound. He’s a very friendly creature, and is very well-trained.”

She passed the puppy into a stunned Isaac's arms, where it nuzzled its three heads into his chest.

“I, Percy Jackson, give permission for this monster to enter Camp Half-Blood.” Percy said abruptly.

Percy held up his fist, and Isaac bumped it with his own.

“Well... it seems that that situation is settled.” Chiron grumbled.

“Yes, it would seem so.” Gaia said shrewdly. “Well, I guess that concludes our business. I am very thankful for this.” Gaia drew in a shaky breath. “May I have a moment to say one last goodbye to Isaac?”

“Of course.” Chiron nodded and motioned for all the others to follow him back past the border of Thalia's pine tree.

A few minutes or so later, they watched Isaac walk past the border, the mini-Cerberus walking along beside him. They could see him wiping tears out of his eyes. Jason's heart clenched for the boy; he had lived his life with an abusive father, and too soon after meeting his mother for the first time, he had to say goodbye to her forever, knowing that he would never be able to see her again for as long as he lived. It was a heart-breaking situation for Isaac to have to deal with, and even though Jason barely knew the kid, he felt extremely sorry for him. Isaac reached the group and nodded sadly. The mini-Cerberus butted its three heads against Isaac's legs.

“Are you okay?” Percy asked gently.

Isaac shook his head and signed to Percy.

“He said 'no, but he will be'.” Leo translated.

“Of course you will be. You're a demigod, dude. We're made of pretty sturdy stuff.” Percy clapped Isaac on his hunched shoulder.

Will stepped forward.

“If you don't mind me asking, how did your back get like that? Would you like me to take a look at it for you?”

“Will's the leading healer here at camp.” Percy explained to Isaac. “I don't remember your back being all hunched like that before. What happened?”

Isaac signed a response.

“He says that it was part of 'Gaia's blessing' when she claimed him as her child.”

“Some amazing blessing, that.” Nico muttered sarcastically. Percy glared at him.

“Isaac agrees with you, Nico.” Leo said, interpreting Isaac's response.

“Well,” Chiron stepped in, “Welcome to Camp Half-Blood, Isaac Atwell. We'll let you get settled in, and then formally introduce you to the all the campers at the bonfire tonight. The problem is that Gaia does not have a cabin here at Camp Half-Blood, and I fear that the residents of this camp wouldn't take to kindly to building a cabin for the goddess that nearly destroyed them and their home.”

“Isaac says that he understands.”

“Normal procedure for campers who are unclaimed or whose godly parent does not have a cabin would be for them to stay at the Hermes cabin, but again...”

“No problem, Chiron. Isaac can stay in one of the spare bunks in my cabin until we get him sorted a cabinet of his own.” Percy said, smiling.

Isaac signed something to Percy and nudged Percy at Chiron, clearly telling him to relay what he’d said.

“Isaac said not to worry, he'd be happy to stay into the Poseidon cabin until he can sort out his own cabin. He said he can build one himself easily enough. He can make himself a sort of underground cave cabin using his powers.” Percy said, nodding, impressed.

“That's... impressive. Very well. We shall see where we can find a space for the Gaia cabin. Good day.” Chiron trotted off to the Big House without another word.

“Well... what should we do now?” Jason said awkwardly.

“Let’s drop off Isaac's rucksack at my cabin, and then we can take him to the camp store to get some more clothes, maybe a collar for his... pet dog, and then I want to take him to the Armoury to sort out his weapons.” Percy suggested. Nobody could come up with any objections, but it was decided that Annabeth and Piper would got to the camp store for Isaac to see what they could find for him, and would then deposit the things at the Poseidon cabin for him. The others decided to go back to their normal day's activities.

Isaac thanked them, before being led off by a gleeful Percy, followed closely behind by Leo, Jason, and a very excitable and energetic three-headed puppy scampering along with them, barking loudly.

*****

**Leo's POV**

HOLY. SHIT. Holy shit. Holy shit. Holy shit!

In other words, 'Dayyyyyummm'. This boy was fucking beautiful, Leo thought!

He was maybe a head or so taller than him, with luminously milky pale skin, and curly auburn hair down to his shoulders. Leo guessed that Isaac must be partly Irish. Maybe he'd ask him later. And his eyes.... Oh my gods, his eyes! They were this amazing shade of vivid green, somehow looking like emeralds, spring meadow grass, and crisp green apples all at once. The hunched back didn't even bother Leo. Who was he to judge?

But holy fucking shit, Leo was fucking in love! The last time he'd felt anything close to this happy had been... well... when he'd thought that he'd be able to break Calypso out of Ogygia. He hadn't felt so strongly for a person since. And there went all of Leo's theories about love at first sight being a load of shit. That was annoying.

Leo could feel Jason shooting him curious glances out of the corner of his eyes, and hurried about acting normal, scratching the three-headed dog behind his ears, all three heads competing for attention.

“So, Leo. Where did  _you_ learn sign language?” Jason asked lightly.

“One of my many many foster homes was with a deaf couple. I learned it in the hopes that it would make them like me, but no such luck. Besides, it gave me something to do with my hands besides fidgeting and building random stuff.” Leo shrugged.

Jason gave him a sad smile, which Leo waved down. He didn’t want Jason to make a fuss.

“So, Isaac.” Leo changed the subject quickly. “You thought of a name for this little guy?” Leo pointed to the three-headed puppy, which was currently wagging his tail very enthusiastically and curiously sniffing his way around Percy's cabin.

 _“I don't know,”_ Isaac signed. _“You got any ideas?”_

“What about ‘Bastian'?” Leo said.

_“Why 'Bastian'?”_

“I don't know, really. I guess it just suits him, and it sounds cool.” Leo shrugged.

Isaac seemed to ponder for a moment, nodding appreciatively.

 _“Fair enough... Alright. Bastian, it is.”_ Isaac signed, grinning at Leo.

Leo tried not to grin too broadly at the fact that Isaac had actually used his suggestion. Leo felt very self-satisfied and proud. A wisp of smoke escaped his hair, but Leo thought that he'd managed to play it off so that Isaac didn't notice. Percy and Jason clearly did, though. They both shot him knowing smirks.

“I think Piper was going to try and find an extra-large collar for him, Leo could probably forge the tag for you and engrave the name on it, if you'd like?” Percy suggested to Isaac, and Leo nodded in confirmation.

“Don’t want to toot my own trumpet, well maybe just a little bit, but I'm a pretty good mechanic/blacksmith/engineer/builder/fire-starting extraordinaire.” Leo puffed out his chest importantly.

 _“Sounds good to me.”_ Isaac signed, smiling at Leo. Leo felt his heart flutter like there was a loose screw in it.

“Let’s go to the Armoury, then. I think we're all done here.” Percy said enthusiastically. “I want to see what sort of weapon Isaac can use. And then we're going to test him out in the arena.”

There was simply no point in arguing with Percy when he got excited and set his mind on something. Leo knew, because he was the exact same way. Percy grabbed Isaac's arm with one hand and Jason's with the other and dragged them out of the Poseidon cabin, running towards the Armoury. Leo sighed and shared a look with Bastian, whose three tongues lolled out of his mouth as he docked all three of his heads at Leo.

“Well, come on, then, Bastian. I guess we better follow them huh, boy? Come on.”

Leo led Bastian out of the Poseidon cabin and shut the door behind him before running after the others.

When Leo got the Armoury, he found Jason waiting just outside the door, grimacing as the sounds of crashing, clattering, and just general chaos drifted from within, Percy's voice distinguishable from the ruckus.

“Oh! What about this?! This looks cool! No, wait, this one! I bet this could do a crap-tonne of damage to a monster! No?”

Leo thought he better check it out. He nodded to Jason who grimaced at him and pointed in with a muttered 'good luck’.

Leo had to force down the urge to laugh. Isaac was standing in the middle of the room, looking utterly overwhelmed and wide-eyed as Percy darted all over the place, passing different weapons of varying types to Isaac to have a look at; there were handguns, rifles, machine guns, swords, shields, spears, daggers and knives, bows and arrows, staffs, war fans, and quite a few others by the looks of it. After the discovery of Bunker 9, the Armoury had greatly expanded as more designs for different weapons were found in the bunker and consequently built.

Isaac shot Leo a look that clearly said 'HELP ME', and Leo didn't need Isaac to use sign language to get his point across.

“Hey, Percy. Maybe we should just let Isaac have a little look around for himself, let him get used to all this, y'know? Who knows? Maybe he'll pick out something.” Leo suggested, trying (and failing) to stop a grin spreading on his face.

“What? Oh, okay. Yeah... I guess this can be a lot to take in. Go ahead, dude. We'll hang back for a bit, let you explore.” Percy said sheepishly, scratching his head.

Isaac shot Leo a grateful smile and mouthed a 'thank you’, to which Leo stuck up his thumb.

Isaac walked around slowly, looking at all the weapons lining the walls and in boxes, picking one up occasionally, but in every case putting it back after a little look, deciding against it.

He reached one of the boxes and reached both hands in to pick up two butterfly swords, commonly regarded as the most versatile (in terms of both attack and defence capabilities) of all of the weapons to originate from ancient China, mostly used in pairs. They had comfortable-looking leather handles and lethally sharp celestial bronze blades that were about the length of his forearms. He nodded his head, seeming impressed with them, before picking out two sheathes for them, and a long leather whip, before walking over to them and nodding, indicating that he had decided on these.

“Why the whip?” Percy asked.

Isaac shrugged, as if to say 'you'll see’ or 'just because I feel like it’.

“Good choices.” Leo’s said, nodding approvingly. “Butterfly swords are excellent for both defence _and_ attack. Have you ever fought with them before?”

Isaac nodded, and slipped the swords into their scabbards before attaching them and the whip to his belt, before he signed an answer to Leo.

 _“My mother taught me how to fight with them. I believe she obtained them from a dead Imperial Chinese soldier's burial site. He was buried with them in the Earth, so my mother could summon them from her domain.”_ Isaac explained, grimacing.

They walked out of the Armoury and walked over to Jason, who looked like he was having fun throwing sticks for Bastian to go and fetch. The only problem was that his three heads then proceeded to argue over which one got to hold the stick and give it back to Jason.

“So what powers did you get from Gaia?” Percy asked, sitting down on a bench.

 _“My powers are pretty similar to a child of Demeter's, though probably not so much crops and food growing. Basically I have the same sort of powers my mother had. I can also do a sort of teleportation, a little bit like shadow-travelling, though it's not as instantaneous.”_ Percy translated what Isaac was saying so that Jason could understand.

“Wow, really?! Show us!” Percy gaped at Isaac.

Isaac nodded and stamped one foot on the ground, hard. A fissure, big enough to jump into, appeared in front of him, and he hopped lightly into it, disappearing into the ground. The fissure closed up after him, leaving no trace.

Leo felt someone tapping his shoulder and spun around to see Isaac standing there, looking smug. He gave them a little wave, looking like he was trying not to laugh at the bewildered looks on their faces.

“Impressive, dude.” Leo said, high-fiving Isaac.

“Very.” Jason said. “You want to come along to the arena? We can give you a tour of the camp along the way, if you want.”

Isaac gave Jason a thumbs-up. Percy linked his hand with Jason's and they led the way round Camp Half-Blood, with Leo and Isaac following behind them (with Bastian scampering around them), and they pointed out the various sites and activities around the camp; the lava climbing wall, the dining pavilion, the forest, Zeus's fist, the archery range, all the cabins (where they played a sort of game with Isaac guessing which cabin was for which god/goddess), the infirmary, the constantly burning bonfire, the lake, the Big House, the Pegasus stables, the strawberry fields, and the camp forges, before they finally arrived at the training arena, where Nico was finishing up a sword-training class with a bunch of younger kids.

The kids all stared at Isaac, some with interest, some with suspicion and mistrust, some with distaste as their eyes skated over his hunched back.

“Hey guys. We're just about done here.” Nico waved them over.

“Cool. We were going to test out how good Isaac is at sparring if you want to stay and watch?” Percy asked.

“Sure.” Nico shrugged.

The kids grumbled, but dispersed, most of them inviting themselves to stay and watch Isaac fighting as well. A whole bunch of other campers wandered over to spectate as well, including all their friends, a bunch of kids from the Ares cabin (Clarisse included), Grover and Juniper, the Stoll brothers, and basically most of the campers.

Leo made his way into the stands with Nico and Bastian (who liked Nico a lot), as Percy and Jason drew their weapons and started talking Isaac through the point of the exercise.

“Right, so what we're trying to do here, Isaac, is just to see what your strengths are, and your weaknesses. That way we can get together a training schedule that can help you improve in the places that you're struggling with.” Jason said in that calmly authoritative voice he had.

Isaac nodded.

“This isn't going to be a particularly structured fight.” Jason continued. “Percy and me are just going to start advancing, and we'll see how things go from there. It’ll also give you a chance to demonstrate your powers in a battle scenario. Okay?”

Isaac nodded again and unsheathed his butterfly swords.

“Ready?” Jason asked, smiling encouragingly.

Isaac nodded.

Jason flew up into the air and attacked from above while Percy slashed Riptide at Isaac's midriff.

Isaac blocked Jason's attack with the hilt of his sword which threw Jason off balance and crashing to the ground, as Isaac parried Percy's attack with one sword, bringing the other sword swishing round to follow with an attack.

Isaac was undoubtedly a very skilled swordsman; Leo could see the other campers around him coming to similar conclusions. He was managing to hold his own in a fight against two of the best swordsmen in the entire camp!

Jason and Percy swung at Isaac from both sides, but he jumped into a fissure into the ground, popping back up behind Jason and sticking his foot out to trip Jason up. It worked, and Jason fell into Percy, sending the both of them sprawling into the dirt.

Isaac re-sheathed one of his swords and unhooked the whip from his belt. He swished it around and brought it down, skimming quickly along the ground, which sent up a cloud of dust and sand into Jason and Percy's faces, and acted a bit like a smokescreen for Isaac.  
Jason took off into the air again to try and spot Isaac from above, but the whip came flying out of the sand mist and wrapped around Jason's ankle. Isaac yanked on it hard, and Jason yelped as he was thrown back to the ground, groaning slightly at the impact. Percy ran at Isaac from behind, but Isaac made a little upwards flicking motion with his hand and a vine tripped Percy up.

Isaac allowed his two opponents to catch their breath and re-group. Both Jason and Percy looked dishevelled, sweaty, and altogether much less composed than Isaac, who looked quite calm and collected (and in Leo's very humble opinion, very hot), a small smile playing on his lips. Jason raised his sword into the air and thunder rumbled above them as lightning came flashing down, connecting with Jason's sword before shooting at Isaac, who dived out of the way and came up on his feet.

Isaac lashed out with the whip, which wrapped around the hilt of Percy’s sword, and tugged the sword out of Percy's grip, disarming him. Riptide landed at Isaac's feet.

He picked it up and tied the end of the whip securely round the handle of the sword. He swished the sword-whip around his head, before flinging the end at Percy and Jason.

Jason grabbed Percy around the waist and flew them into the air, just dodging the attack.

This was a very cool fight, Leo thought.

“Holy Hera, he's pretty good, isn't he?” Nico whispered to Leo, who couldn't make himself tear his eyes away from the fight.

“Yeah, he's very pretty.” Leo replied in a dreamy sigh, thoroughly distracted.

Will snorted in laughter, while Piper shot Leo a very knowing smile. Damn powers of Aphrodite's kids.

Leo focussed back on the fight, where Isaac was continuing to swing and fling the sword-whip round like a very lethal lasso. It made Leo (once again) marvel at his exceptional skills. Isaac directed the whip towards Jason, who raised his sword just in time to block the attack.

Isaac brought the whip flying back to him, untying the sword and tossing it aside, far from Percy's reach, before unsheathing his butterfly swords again. He stabbed one of the swords straight down into the ground, and a crack formed, snaking from the point where Isaac’s sword was in the ground to in between Jason and Percy, the ground shaking and throwing Jason and Percy off their feet.  
Isaac jumped into the fissure and disappeared, the crack in the ground disappearing after him. Percy ran to get his sword, which was standing point-down in a sand mound. He tried (unsuccessfully) to yank it out, while Jason looked around frantically to see where Isaac had popped out.

Isaac jumped out of the ground right in front of Jason, startling him, and giving Isaac a chance to disarm Jason also, sending Jason's sword skidding along the floor. Isaac then held his swords at Jason, one behind his neck and the other pointing at his chest.

**Isaac's POV**

Isaac was breathing heavily as he held Jason at sword-point. Gradually, the pounding in his ears subsided, and he registered the noise of thunderous applause and cheers from the stands around the arena. He looked around and saw Percy's and Jason's friends clapping and cheering _him_. Like, what? He could see that cute Latino boy, Leo, yelling praise in rapid-fire Spanish, holding Bastian up like a three-headed baby Simba, all three of his heads barking loudly and excitedly.

Isaac turned back to Jason (who he realised he was still holding at sword-point), who was grinning broadly at him. Isaac hurriedly lowered his swords and popped them back in the scabbards.

He mouthed the word 'sorry' to Jason, smiling bashfully, but Jason waved him down.

“Don't apologise, mate. That was phenomenal! Seriously, you were incredible. The way you disarmed Percy was amazing. Hey, Percy! How good was that?!”

Percy sprinted over to them in glee, beaming at them.

“Oh my gods, Isaac, that was so good! Your defence is incredible.”

“I agree. And your long-range attacking was brilliant as well. Using the whip to disarm Percy and turning it into a long-range weapon was an inspired. The only thing I'd say is that you were maybe a bit hesitant with your close-ranged attacks and your hand-to-hand combat, but that's definitely something that we can work on, no problem. But honestly, you're amazing at this. Your first day, and you're already one of the best here! I bet you could take on _any_ one of the Ares kids and come out on top.” Jason raved enthusiastically. Isaac smiled, thinking to himself that Percy had chosen well for himself. No-one has said anything about it to him, but the loving glances and hand-holding was not lost on Isaac, and he had noticed a ring on Percy's finger.

“But don't tell Clarisse that, or you'll have to start sleeping with those swords under your pillow.” Percy said, jolting Isaac out of his thoughts. “Speak of the devil.” Percy muttered to himself.

A sturdily-built girl with a mean look on her face, Isaac guessed that this must be Clarisse, holding a dangerous-looking spear, was marching purposefully over and stopped in front of them with the stiff posture of someone who had a level of authority and knew it.

“Clarisse La Rue. Head of the Ares cabin.” She said, holding out a hand for Isaac to shake. He did so, and felt her hand crushing his painfully.

“This is Isaac Atwell. He's new to camp.” Percy introduced them. “Isaac can't speak, he's mute.” He added in explanation.

“Oh okay. I just wanted to come over and say that your fighting style was pretty unorthodox, but it was nevertheless admirable. You're a good fighter, kid, and I look forward to sparring with you in the future, if you'd like. But I am not an idiot; you came here with Gaia of all goddesses, and with your powers, I'm guessing that you're her kid. I ain't gonna judge, none of us can help who our parents are, but I don't quite trust you yet. Nothing personal, I just don't know you. So, I may not trust you, but I sure as hell respect you as a fighter.” Clarisse boomed in a powerful voice.

 _“Thanks, I try my best. And I understand, thanks for not holding my mum against me. I look forward to earning your trust in the future.”_ Isaac signed at Clarisse, and Percy translated for him. Thank the gods for Percy, he was awesome. But Isaac decided that he needed to get a stash of pens and notebooks so he could write down what he was saying, so he didn't have to rely on people knowing sign language.

Isaac and Clarisse shook hands again (Clarisse's grip thankfully much gentler this time) and, satisfied, Clarisse turned and marched back towards the cabins.

 _“She’s scary, but I like her.”_ Isaac signed to Percy as soon as Clarisse's back was to them.

“Yeah, she's terrifying. But she's an amazing fighter, and she's fierce when she's protecting this camp and the people in it. She's a good person underneath that brusque facade, and you should see her with her godson, Chuck.” Percy said.

Percy's and Jason's friends walked over, Leo still carrying Bastian in his arms, trying to keep him from licking (Isaac thought he remembered him being introduced as the son of Hades) Nico's face, who was scowling and wiping the dog slobber off on his sleeve as his boyfriend Will Solace laughed.

“¡Amigo, estás estupendo! Chico, tienes mucho talento, sinceramente.” Leo rambled in Spanish.

 _“Thanks.”_ Isaac signed at him.

“¿Tu entiendes español?” Leo said, surprised.

_“I learned it at school, but obviously I didn't get very good grades in the speaking exams.” Isaac grinned. “I don't know how to sign in Spanish, though. Sorry.”_

“Oh, cariño, don't worry about it. I tend to slip into Spanish when I get excited. It's pretty gratifying to even have someone understand what I'm trying to say.”

“What do you guys want to do now, anyway?” Will piped up.

“I don't know,” said Nico, “We’ve still got ages before dinner, and there's the bonfire after.”

“Gods, shit’s going to _majorly_ hit the fan when they find out who your mum is, Isaac.” Piper said bluntly. Leo turned and scowled at her.

“She's right, unfortunately, mi amigo. Just... be ready to deal with it.” Leo sighed uneasily.

Isaac didn't really want to say anything, so he just nodded sadly.

“Sorry, I wasn't trying to be a bitch. Just trying to give you fair warning.” Piper said apologetically. “But I've got to get back to the Aphrodite cabin. I said I'd do Katie Gardner's hair. Then I'm going to trash Drew's lipsticks and empty her bronzing powder into her hairdryer. Painted and fake bitch.”

“I'll come with.” Her girlfriend said, linking their arms, and they bid goodbye to the group.

 _“I want to get the hell into some clean clothes. Clean myself up a bit.”_ Isaac signed.

“Yeah, I bet. Travelling takes it out of you. If you want, you can come and join me in Bunker 9 after? I've got some cool projects in the works if you're interested in seeing them.”

Isaac nodded enthusiastically. He liked Leo; he was nice, funny, obviously very smart, and he was cute as well.

 _“Yeah, sure. That sounds fun. But I don't know where to go.”_ Isaac sighed, frowning.

“No worries. I'll come with you to the Poseidon cabin and wait while you get yourself freshened up. Then you can come with me.”

Isaac nodded.

 _“I’ll see you guys later at dinner?”_ Isaac sighed to Percy.

“Yeah, of course. Go have fun. See you at the dining pavilion later. I've got to Iris-Message Tyson and my mom, anyway. They're going to be pumped to hear that you're here.” Percy smiled and waved as Leo pulled Isaac along by the arm.

*****

Isaac enjoyed washing the day off under the hot water in the Poseidon cabin's shower, it felt good running down his aching back. It hurt to wear clothes that were too tight, they made his back ache terribly.

He pushed his wet hair out of his face and sighed, thinking back on the events of the day.

It had been a piece of cake getting to Half-Blood Hill, he was from New York after all, same as Percy, so it wasn’t too far to travel. He knew they wouldn't have a warm welcome after what his mother had told him about the battle that had happened a year or so ago.  
Fear and dread clenched in his stomach like a rock when he thought of how everyone would react to the news that his mother was the goddess that had killed their brothers, their sisters, their friends, very nearly obliterating their home at the same time.

He felt sad as he thought of Gaia, his mother. In the year since he'd known her, she'd loved him and treated him better than his father ever had in his seventeen years of life. And now she’d been taken from him, and far too soon. Isaac Atwell wasn't an idiot, he knew that Gaia had been an evil, malevolent, vengeful, and vindictive goddess, but still... she _had_ been his mother, after all. And for a kid who had never known a maternal role model, someone that loved him like a mother should, it was tough to say goodbye and let it go when he'd barely gotten used to it in the first place. Whatever Gaia was, whatever atrocities she'd committed during her lengthy existence, she was still his mum, she had still loved him, she had saved him from an abusive household and had taught him to defend himself, and he would always be thankful for that.

All clean, he stepped out of the shower and grabbed a towel from the rail, drying himself off, before putting on the clothes that he'd brought in with him and placed on the closed toilet seat, trying to manoeuvre the orange camp t-shirt over his back. He grimaced; orange really wasn't his colour, but oh well.

He tied his dark red hair back in a floppy bun, and walked out of the bathroom, where Leo was waiting for him, stroking through Bastian’s soft fur.

“Looking good, amigo. Ready to go?” Leo said, standing up.

Isaac nodded. Bastian was snoozing on the bunk that Isaac had chosen, guessing that the queen-sized bed by the doors that opened onto a lakeside porch was Percy's. A mechanic's workshop wasn’t somewhere they should take a dog. One of his heads raised up slightly as they made their way out of the cabin and gave them a small 'woof' goodbye before settling back down.

*****

Bunker 9 was so cool! Literally, there were designs and blueprints for everything and anything you could think of! Weapons, armour, ballistics, shields, tech stuff, and... HOLY SHIT, was that a robot dragon snoozing in the corner?!

“He’s called Festus.” Leo said, noticing what he was staring at. “We’ve been through a hell of a lot together.”

Isaac nodded and took a closer look at some of the projects while Leo started tinkering.

“So, Mr Isaac Atwell, what's your story?” Leo started up a conversation as he started hammering away at a plate of metal.

_“What are you talking about? My mother and Percy told you guys my story.”_

“Yeah, but they didn't tell us everything. I want to hear more about you now that we're best buds.”

 _“Wait, you want to be friends with me?”_ Isaac signed, surprise written all over his face. Isaac knew that Percy's friends were all really cool and they'd all been super nice to him, but he thought that that had been for Percy's benefit, because he'd known Percy before.

“Yeah, dude. You're a super cool guy! Ahora estamos amigos, Isaac, y eso está un vínculo para la vida. There's no getting rid of me now!” Leo grinned.

Isaac blushed and cast around for another subject.

 _“So what did you want to know?”_ Isaac signed. He wandered over to Leo and hopped up so he was sitting on the worktop, Leo leaning back in his wheelie chair.

“Well... Where'd the mutism come from? Were you born with it or—”

_“The doctors said that it was mustism onset by traumatic experience.”_

“Shit... What happened?” Leo said, a concerned frown creasing his forehead.

 _“Well, it's like Percy said earlier. My dad was an abusive ass-hat. He used to hit and punch me, call me awful names, lock me in the kitchen cupboard if I was naughty; the usual stuff. And he was involved in a lot of dodgy dealings, like with this really violent Irish crime family. And one day, I saw something I wasn't meant to, and I got caught. They said they'd kill me if I ever said a word about it... and I haven't said a word since. I was nine.”_ Isaac finished, looking down at his lap.

Isaac was startled out of his painful recollection when he felt a pair of arms wrap around him and Leo's head resting on his shoulder.

“I'm sorry, Isaac. That must have been awful.”

Isaac nodded, trying to blink back tears. Leo pulled back and pulled a handkerchief from his tool-belt (he explained that I was a magic tool-belt that could bring him basically anything he could want) for Isaac to wipe his eyes on. Isaac took it gratefully, noticing that there was a grease smudge on one of the corners.

_“Thank you.”_

“Don’t worry about it. A sucky thing happened to you, you're allowed to be upset about it.” Leo said firmly.

 _“Okay. So, is there anything else you want to know about me?”_ Isaac sniffed.

“So you're part Irish-American?”

_“Yeah. Why?”_

“Nothing, really. Just curiosity. Explains your hair and eye colour.”

_“I guess it does. So what about you? I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that you're Hispanic.”_

Leo snorted in laughter.

“That's very observant of you, chico. I wonder what gave me away? Yeah, my mom was a Mexican immigrant. She used to own this little mechanic's workshop in a quiet part of Texas. But it... burned down. She's dead now.”

 _“Because of my mum. My mum killed your mum. You said so, back by the big pine tree.”_ Isaac's face fell.

“Well... Yeah. Kind of.”

_“How can you even stand the sight of me? How do you not hate me for that?”_

“Because you and your mother are not the same person, Isaac. It's not fair to judge people for stuff that they had nothing to do with. You deserved to have a chance.” Leo said, looking resolutely into Isaac's face.

_“You’re a good person, Leo.”_

“Well, I try.” Leo said airily, flicking his hair slightly, and just like that, the sad atmosphere and tension dissipated and they were both grinning.

**Leo's POV**

Leo got up to start welding a piece of celestial bronze to the framework of a monster trap, but he didn't bother using the mask or (for obvious reasons) a blowtorch. He just pointed his finger at the bit where the two bits of metal needed to be joined together and used his ‘super-hot firestarter powers'.

He heard a crashing sound behind him and whipped around to see Isaac toppling off of the worktop in fright and crashing into a prototype shield design. Leo ran over to help Isaac this feet.

“Isaac! You okay, amigo? What happened?”

Isaac was staring at Leo in shock, his face white as a sheet.

 _“You were on fire! Fire was coming out of your hand!”_ Isaac goggled at him.

Leo couldn't help it; he burst out laughing at the incredulous look on Isaac's face. It really was quite amusing.

“Oh, dude, I'm sorry. You wouldn't have known. It's my special superpower. Look.” Leo held up a handful of fire to show Isaac, who reached his hand out and withdrew it quickly from the heat.

 _“It doesn't burn you?”_ Isaac asked when Leo had extinguished the flames, grabbing Leo's hand and inspecting it.

“No, cariño, not at all. It's a really rare blessing from my dad. He's only given it to a few of his kids throughout history.” Leo said, feeling a little proud at the notion.

 _“That's so cool. You're like the Human Torch from the Fantastic Four, or Iron Man with his repulsor beams.”_ Isaac signed.

“You like superheroes?”

 _“Yeah.”_ Isaac said, blushing. _“I love superhero comic books and movies and stuff.”_

“ME TOO!” Leo said excitedly. “I have a whole load of comic books, I’ll have to show them to you some time.”

_“That would be nice. I had to leave all my comic books behind when my mum rescued me. I didn't have time to take them with me.”_

“Don’t you worry. Us nerds gotta stick together. I got your back, amigo. Anyway, anything you want to know about me? I'm pretty chatty, so sky's the limit.”

 _“I have a hunch already, but what are these?”_ After Isaac had signed his question, he reached out and pulled Leo's forearm gently towards him and ran his fingers ever so gently over the scars all over it. Leo sighed gently and looked down at his arm.

“Unfortunately, it's exactly what you think it is. After, well... after your mum got defeated, I died. Well, I damn nearly did, anyway. I got sent to this mythical purgatory island called Ogygia and tried to rescue my ex-girlfriend Calypso from there, but it didn't work and she died on the journey back. It was just me and Festus. I got pretty low after I finally got back to camp; you know, depression, PTSD, I developed a stutter, the whole ugly enchilada. And I already had social anxiety, ADHD, dyslexia, and a sexuality crisis to start off with! So, yeah, I'm a bit of a broken toy. And then one day, there was an accident in here and I accidentally cut my arm, and that sort opened the floodgates. And I started self-harming.”

Isaac said nothing, and nodded for Leo to continue.

“Anyway, there was a bad day a few weeks ago, like mid-November, and my friends ended up finding out about everything. It was pretty difficult, and it still is a lot of the time, but I'm trying to get better. It just takes time and effort.”

 _“Wow. I – Thank you for telling me. I'm honoured that you trust me with this; it must be difficult to talk about it.”_ Isaac signed, looking up at Leo with his big green eyes.

“Honestly, I really don't mind talking about it if people ask me. If it helps someone else so they don’t have to go through what I am, then that's got to be worth it, right?”

_“That's very selfless of you.”_

Leo squirmed awkwardly. He didn't even know why he'd told Isaac about all that. He'd only just met the dude, after all, not to mention the fact that Leo kind of sort of had a crush on him (and still trying to figure out his sexuality in the first place!), and there Leo had just unloaded all his deep dark mental problems onto the poor guy. Yikes.

Isaac seemed to sense his discomfort, and quickly took the attention off of Leo.

_“How about I show you MY big secret? You showed me your fire powers, after all, it seems only fair.”_

“Uh, yeah... Sure. No pressure, though. You don't have to show me anything if you don't want to.” Leo started awkwardly. He was curious, of course he was, it's just the sort of person Leo was, but he didn't want to pressure Isaac into telling him anything he didn't want to/wasn't ready for him to know, but Isaac smiled and nodded at Leo.

 _“Okay. Turn around, and when you hear this hammer bang, you can turn back around.”_ Isaac signed, and picked up a heavy mallet. Leo turned around apprehensively and waited.

Leo couldn't hear anything, but after a minute or so, he heard the bang of the mallet on a pipe, and he turned around.

But Isaac wasn't there. Leo looked wildly around, but Isaac was nowhere to be seen. The hammer was lying on the floor. Where had Isaac disappeared to? Holy crap, could he turn invisible or something?

Something soft hit Leo in the face from above; it was the orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirt that Isaac had been wearing, which meant that Isaac was somewhere in Bunker 9, and he was completely shirtless. The mere thought made Leo's skin tingle and a fire started in the pit of his stomach.

Leo looked upwards in the direction the t-shirt had come from, promptly gasped and dropped the t-shirt, and then fell over himself in shock.

Isaac was hovering in mid-air a few feet above Leo's head. Without the camp t-shirt on, Leo could see that Isaac was powerfully built like an ox (and Frank, though his abs weren't nearly as cut), and that his shoulders and chest were covered with a generous smattering of freckles on his almost luminously fair skin. What took Leo by surprise the most, however, were the wings sticking out from behind him. They were a bit like a butterfly's wings would be, only human-sized. They were a velvety black colour with patches of blue-green on them.

Leo stared and stared and stared. He was utterly transfixed by the sight of Isaac with _wings_ hovering steadily in the air of his workshop, and he was utterly incapable of speech.

Isaac fluttered back down to the ground and landed lightly on his feet.

 _“Surprise!”_ He signed.

Leo spluttered at Isaac, his words getting lost on the way to his mouth and coming out as unintelligible gibberish.

“¡¿Qué diablos?! ¿Puedes volar? ¡No puedo creerlo! So, you don't have a hunchback after all?”

Isaac seemed amused at the question.

 _“Of course THAT'S the first question that comes to you.”_ Isaac shook his head fondly at Leo, who didn't even try to contain his excitement.

Isaac turned around and Leo approached him, not thinking before he reached out and gently touched Isaac's right wing, which twitched and fluttered slightly at the contact. Leo withdrew his hand quickly as Isaac looked over his shoulder at him and twisted round to sign something to Leo.

_“It’s alright, you can touch. It doesn't hurt.”_

Leo hesitantly reached out his hand again and continued inspecting the wings, thinking to himself how beautiful the colours were. Isaac didn't have a hunchback; his shoulders were broad, strong, and muscular and his back was smooth and unblemished, except for the freckles and some small scars at the point where Isaac's wings met his skin.

Isaac turned back around to face Leo.

“So this was the mysterious blessing from Gaia?” Leo asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

_“Yeah. She's Mother Nature. It's a nature spirit blessing, or at least that's what she told me.”_

“They’re beautiful.” Leo said softly, looking at Isaac in awe. “But doesn't it hurt to keep them under squished under your t-shirt?”

_“Oh yeah, it aches like a bitch. But I didn't want people to think that I was even more of a freak, especially when this is my first day here.”_

“You're not a freak!” Leo said indignantly. “I think you're awesome and funny and kind, and I don't think you should hide these, especially if it puts you in pain.”

 _“What? You really think that the other campers are going to stop hating me because of my mother, just because I have pretty fairy wings?”_ Isaac raised a sceptical eyebrow at Leo and folded his arms across his chest.

“No, but there's no point in putting yourself in pain just for the sake of others. You're not a naïve little kid, Isaac, and we both know that some of the campers will hold your parentage against you, no matter how unfair it is. But those people aren't worth your thoughts in the first place. And our friends will stand behind you; the people that _matter_ will support you, so fuck everyone else.”

Isaac sighed and bowed his head, looking melancholy.

“Hey.” Leo said, placing a consoling hand on Isaac's shoulder. “I don't hate you. I happen to think that we're going to be really good friends and cause much havoc and mayhem together, and I'm pretty smart, so if I like you, then other people should as well.”

Isaac looked up at Leo with a lopsided smile tilting the corner of his lips.

_“Thanks, Leo. You're a good friend.”_

“Come here, big guy. Bring it in for a hug.” Leo said, holding his arms open. Isaac huffed in laughter but still let Leo wrap his arms around him, which made Leo smile.

Isaac pulled back and Leo looked down at his wristwatch.

“Okay. If we leave now, we should have time to get back to the Poseidon cabin and modify all your clothes so you can have your wings out before we have to go to dinner.” Leo said, handing Isaac back his t-shirt and grabbing his tool-belt. Isaac looked unsure.

“Hey. I know it's scary, but sometimes you just gotta be brave, Isaac. And well... there's no time like the present.”

Isaac nodded after a moment of hesitation and slipped the t-shirt back over his head (Leo decided to help him get the t-shirt over his folded down wings so it was at least a bit more comfortable), and then they headed out of Bunker 9 and hurried back out of the forest and back into camp towards the Poseidon cabin.

*****

**Isaac's POV**

Leo is awesome. The fricking best. He worked calmly and quietly while Isaac sat on his bed stewing in his anxiety, making two cuts in the backs of all of his tops, shirts, sweaters, cardigans, and his jacket (though he didn't need to do this to any of the tank tops), then hemming and stitching around the edges to neaten it up so it didn’t stretch too much and so the fabric didn't chafe against Isaac's wing joints, which Isaac thought was really sweet.

Bastian seemed thoroughly overexcited by Isaac's 'new' wings (he hadn't seen them before). The three puppy heads kept sniffing curiously at them, but he eventually got bored and curled up in Isaac's lap.

“There. All done.” Leo said, holding up the last shirt.

_“Wow. You've done a really neat job of it.”_

“Thanks. I hope it's alright.”

_“No, this is all really sweet of you. It means a lot that you would help me out like this. So, thank you.”_

“Hey, what are friends for? If I can solder, I can sew. Now, don’t get me wrong, you're pretty and all, but you need to put on a shirt before we go to dinner.” Leo winked and wiggled his eyebrows at Isaac, who could feel his face burning red in a furious blush.

_“Wait... You think I'm pretty?”_

Leo rolled his eyes and chuckled.

“Come on, doofus. Put on a shirt and we can get to the dining pavilion.”

*****

It took Leo a while to coax Isaac out of the door. Isaac hated being a bother, but every time Leo went to drag Isaac out the door, Isaac got really anxious at the thought of people seeing his wings now, and he ran back inside.

“Look, Isaac, you need to eat. Come on. Or do you want me to call Clarisse over to come and drag your ass to dinner?”

Isaac huffed silently and squared his shoulders, sending Leo a half-hearted glare before walking out the door to him. Leo sent him a smug grin.

_“Stop looking so proud of yourself.”_

“If I could, I would, amigo.” Leo said, sticking his tongue out at Isaac.

An idea struck Isaac and he grinned evilly at Leo, before rushing at him and soaring both of them into the air faster than Leo could blink.

Isaac, of course, made sure that he had Leo held very securely in his arms (he didn't want the first new friend he'd made at Camp Half-Blood to plummet to his death, after all), but he needn't have bothered, because Leo had latched himself so tightly around Isaac, that Isaac was sure that it would take multiple people and a crowbar or two to prise Isaac out of Leo's clutches; Leo had wrapped himself around Isaac's torso like a koala bear and was screaming louder than an angry banshee.

Leo's screaming was certainly drawing attention to the situation; several campers were pointing up at them with a curious mix of amusement and fear on their faces.

“Puta, if you drop me, I'm going to kill you! Don't let go of me, idiota!” Leo screeched, and tried to clamber further up Isaac's body, actually using his _head_ as a handhold, clutching it in a death-grip (and poking him in the eyes multiple times in the process) that was sure to leave Isaac with a throbbing headache.

Isaac touched down just outside the dining pavilion (causing the campers already seated to turn around and stare openly at them) and tried to free himself from Leo's surprisingly strong clutches, but to no avail. The harder Isaac tried to get Leo to let go of him (Leo still stuck fast to Isaac's body like he was a koala and Isaac was a eucalyptus tree), the tighter he held on!

“Leo, you're on the ground already, dude. Maybe you want to try letting Isaac go? I think you're smothering him; he’s going purple.” Jason finally took pity on Isaac and ran forward to try and detach Leo, who reluctantly opened his eyes and stood on his own two feet, looking embarrassed.

“So... you can fly too, huh?” Jason said drily to Isaac.

Isaac nodded sheepishly and looked at Leo to check that he really was okay.

“Come on, let's get some food.” Leo grumbled, trying to catch his breath.

When they walked into the dining pavilion, Isaac's gaze immediately fell on Percy, who looked like he was about to have a serious coronary problem from laughing so hard at Leo. He was gasping for breath and wiping tears from his eyes. Looking around, Isaac could see all of Leo’s other friends laughing as well, though they seemed to have slightly more control of themselves than Percy.

Leo whispered something to him about going to the Hephaestus table, and said that he should go and sit at the Poseidon table with Percy, given the fact that he was staying in the Poseidon cabin.

As Isaac walked past the other tables, he could feel all the other campers' eyes on him, staring at him, at his wings (which were now folded down against his back), whispering to each other as he passed.

Isaac tried to keep his head down and walked even faster to the Poseidon table, Jason trailing after him and continuing to a nearby table, where he sat alone.

 _“Hey, Percy.”_ Isaac greeted, sitting down opposite him.

“Aw, dude. That was hilarious! Seriously you have the exact same humour as you did all that time ago. Priceless. Cool wings, by the way. I guess they were hidden under your clothes before. We all thought you were a hunchback, like in that Disney movie. Sorry, dude.”

 _“You don't seem very surprised.”_ Isaac commented as Percy placed an empty golden plate down in front of him. Isaac stared at it, and then looked around the pavilion to see where everyone had got their food from.

“Oh yeah, they're magic. You just need to imagine what food you want and the plate will somehow make it appear. I have no clue how it works. But yeah, I mean, I guess I am a little bit surprised that my childhood friend is suddenly able to fly, but we're demigods, after all. Stranger things have happened. And I get why you didn't tell us right away.” Percy shrugged. Isaac was far too used to Percy's abrupt changes of conversation from back when they used to hang out back in Manhattan, so Percy's infamous sudden ramblings didn't take him by surprise.

He watched Percy's plate, and to his surprise, a blue pizza popped into existence there. Percy cut off a thin slice and stood up, walking over to the bathtub-sized bronze brazier and dropping it into the flames, mumbling something before walking back to his plate and sitting down.

“We each take a little bit of the food we're going to eat and sacrifice it to the gods (usually our godly parents). Just to keep their egos happy. But it's just something we have to do.” Percy shrugged and answered Isaac's look of confusion.

Isaac looked down at his plate, not really feeling at all hungry, but thinking that maybe he could force down a green salad or something. It startled Isaac slightly when it promptly appeared on his plate out of nowhere, but it looked nice; colourful and not too boring, with little diced bits of chicken in it, and just the right amount of dressing that Isaac liked. He stood up and took his plate with him to the brazier and scraped a portion of it into the fire, silently thanking the gods for not smiting him as soon as he entered camp or something.

He walked back to the Poseidon table and started eating. Percy passed Isaac an empty golden goblet. Isaac guessed that it must be the same sort of deal as the plates, because while Percy was coughing down copious amounts of blue soda, Isaac's goblet filled up with iced tea.

 _“Still with the blue food thing, I see.”_ Isaac commented on Percy's pizza.

“Oh yeah. After Gabe was removed from our lives, I don’t know, it just became a sort of habit. So, it just stuck.”

 _“Fair enough.”_ Isaac shrugged. _“I always remember blue being your favourite colour.”_

“Still is.” Percy smiled. “Mom says she hopes you're well, and she wants you to go and visit her some time, by the way. She was really glad that you were okay; and she says she won't take no for an answer. Tyson said he's coming to camp straight away, so you'll likely see him again in the next couple days. He was... very excited. Just be warned.” Percy told him.

_“I always liked Tyson. Does he still have that eye problem he used to have?”_

“That’s one way to put it.” Percy burst out laughing. “Tyson’s a cyclops, dude. The Mist plays funny tricks on people, makes them see what they can understand. But yeah, he's doing really good. He's got a girlfriend called Ella; she's a harpy with an eidetic memory who read copies of all the Roman prophecies. So she's a very valuable harpy, with a lot of very valuable knowledge. Oh and, like, after everything happened and we found out that Tyson was my half-brother, mom legally adopted him. He was so happy he cried for two weeks.”

 _“A Cyclops? That's... interesting. And Tyson's lovely, he was bound to find someone at some point, he's so sweet. It's great news that your mum adopted him, though, he deserves it. I do remember him always being an emotionally charged kid.”_ Isaac signed to Percy, finally giving up on trying to eat. He didn't have much of an appetite.

“Yeah. When he feels something, he feels it strong. You done eating? You want to head to the campfire then?” Percy asked, looking at Isaac with something like concern in his eyes.

Isaac sighed silently and nodded, resigning himself to his fate.

Percy stood up and placed a hand on Isaac's shoulder.

“Hey. It's going to be okay. If not right away, then it will be soon. And in the meantime, you've got me, Jason, Leo, and all your other new friends. We're all there for you, dude. So just take a breath and to with the ride, even if it's a wild one.” Percy said in a soft and soothing voice. Isaac nodded again and stood up himself, scraping his leftover food into the brazier, as a sacrifice to his mum, before he joined Percy (who was now waiting for Isaac with Leo at the entrance).

“Hey, Campanita. Let's get going. We can get some good seats by the fire.”

 _“What does that mean? I don't know that word.”_ Isaac signed to Leo, frowning.

“It means Tinkerbell, amigo.” Leo cackled and took off laughing, Isaac taking off into the air and chasing after him. Leo looked over his shoulder to laugh at Isaac again, but Isaac summoned a tree root to stick up out the ground. It tripped Leo up and he fell face-first into a sloppy patch of mud.

“Serves you right, Leo.” Percy was hunched over, hands on his knees as he laughed at Leo’s misfortune. “Don’t take Isaac for a soft touch.”

“Yeah. I'm getting that.” Leo was laughing too, thank goodness, so Isaac knew that Leo wasn't actually mad. Isaac still took pity on him and waved a hand so the mud disappeared off of Leo.

 _“I have a temper. I'm sorry. You're not hurt, are you?”_ Isaac signed to Leo, who shook his head.

“Nah, it's alright, man. The Tinkerbell thing was just meant to be a joke, wasn't meant to actually offend. Sorry if it did.” Leo grinned.

 _“It didn't offend me. You just needed a little payback.”_ Isaac dared to wink at Leo, and was gratified to see a faint blush creeping over his neck and ears.

“Isaac's the best pranker I've ever met. Seriously, Leo, this dude can take anyone down a few pegs if he wants to. I reckon he's as good as the Stoll brothers, easy.”

“High praise indeed.” Leo said, leading the way to the campfire, which was crackling merrily.

Leo's and Percy's other friends were already at the campfire, waiting for them. They hurried over and fussed over Isaac and his wings, holding them up to see them. The healer guy, Will, checked them over to make sure that they weren't damaged, and Piper and Hazel seemed very happy with the 'pretty colours in them'. His wings twitched and fluttered as they always did when someone touched them.

“Did it hurt when they appeared? Like, did they just appear there like magic, or did they actually grow out of your back?” Will asked him in a business-like manner.

 _“They grew out of my back over five days or so.”_ Isaac signed uncomfortably. He didn't really like talking about it; it had indeed hurt a lot, especially when the wings had pushed themselves through his skin, it had been agony. He winced at the memory.

“That explains the small amount of scarring that I can see. But they're fine; in perfect working order.” Will pronounced, holding aside the wing-holes of Isaac's t-shirt, backing off after he was finished.

The bonfire was awesome, Isaac thought. A bunch of kids from the Apollo cabin did a medley of songs around the campfire, dancing energetically, and then Chiron the centaur stood up and addressed the campers.

“Good evening, demigods. As you may have noticed, late this morning, we had visitors. And I'm sure it will also not have escaped your notice that we have a new camper in our midst. I would like you all to welcome Isaac Atwell to his new home.”

Isaac tried to sink down in his seat; everybody had turned to stare at him.

“Is he claimed or unclaimed?” Two boys said in unison, almost completely identical (Isaac guessed that these were the Stoll brothers, he'd been told that they were the heads of the Hermes cabin), raised their hands simultaneously.

“He is – He... He has been claimed.” Chiron said uncomfortably, his tail swishing in agitation.

Some of the campers seemed relieved, others not so much.

“So without further ado,” Chiron said loudly (and Isaac got the feeling that Chiron just wanted o get this over with), “All hail Isaac Atwell, demigod son of the goddess of the Earth, Mother Nature, Gaia.”

And all hell broke loose. 


End file.
